Time to Admire and Enjoy

 I am so pleased now that it has come together, the challenge to myself was to get a correct joint on the corner of the banding, I do still have an upstand to put on the back and some sanding to do so the challenge is still there not to sand through the veneers.
I did sucomb to the idea of laying it all up on MDF and using MDF for the ground to the banding, the MDF is very stable and strong so that was the plus the down side is the weight I will have to live with.
The main body of the banding is European Beach so that is used as the wide boarder to the top in a short direction.

The contrast will be much greater once the lacquer coatings are applied and that will be for a later posting

Great progress

 A hundred and eighty four pieces are involved in the main body of this desk top, the pieces that are in the short direction are a Sapele Pomelle or is it simpler to say very figured  the long direction pieces are a straight grain Sapele when it has a coat of lacquer on it this will be far more obvious the off white infill is a Maple with a little grain showing.
The Pomelle was layed up on a laminate (formica) backing so it was 1.2mm thick and cupped so created something of a problem for me, the straight grain Sapele was 1mm thick so I pressed it onto paper to give it the same thickness as the Pomelle with excellent results, the Maple was about 1.7mm thick and easy to cut back once the glue was dry, I used PVA and having limited cramps available I was able to glue up about 8 pieces at a time, the center pieces were a challenge having to use pressure bars to transfer the weight from the cramp, some days I was able to get 3 glue up done so progress was slow, but what a result. 

Excitement

After some plain banding and some experiments, I decided to challenge myself, with a little help from someone who knows and some web research, the photos show the results.
The red is Padauk with some very white Maple then 1mm Sapele the other is European Beach, it is set in Sapele again its 1mm laminated into the curve.

Happy New Year

 It all happened last year, I have amazed myself all the prep work was done during the working year so on Boxing day morning I popped the window out dismantled it cleaned it up I had made a new liner for the inside so that was quickly fitted and the window was back in with its roof in place, I think it was a good move the side of the house looks so much more attractive.
The icing on the cake is that I have also painted the lounge that is the room that the window is in, the window had not been leaking but it now has a stainless steel tray along the bottom to catch and shed any water that may leak in future.

An on going dream

I saw this patten some time ago and just had to give it a go, I now have two of them, and am thinking two more to use as end panels to the desk, I think I can see a European Beach and Mahogany piece developing.

Time to play

The banding bug has got me, the larger banding was put together with material that I have laying around screaming at me to be used, and that is the excuse for lack of contrast it is about 40mm wide and I have made about 6 meters of it, I just had to buy a thicknesser to move forward so the smaller banding is made with the intention of using it in a desk around a curved front top edge it will be capped on either side with laminated Mahogany, it is 27 mm wide, I have cut the first piece at 2.5 mm thick so with some luck and skill I may manage about 3 meters in length.

Adding character.

Before

The top photo was taken of the west side of the house before I installed the new roof, the far window is a bedroom window and the near one is the lounge window, the roof I made as a single unit then lifted it into place and fixed with a little trim added to complete.
I am so happy with the end result, I did make some components for a second one as I made the first one so one day there will be a twin over the lounge window.
The difference in the color is the time of day, the first being a cold early morning as the sun rose on the other side of the house the pics below are more the true color as the sun set in the west .

The trim is needed

After