The return of good weather has enabled me to move the car out of the garage and to set up for some woodworking. Job #1 is to improve the appearance of the THTLP I built last fall by veneering the unit.
After vacillating for way too long, I decided to veneer the THTLP in sapele. I used two 4' x 8' sheets of paper-backed sapele veneer for the THTLP and a half-gallon of Heat Lock iron-on veneer glue.
In this photo I'm getting ready to apply the first sheet of veneer to a side. I'd already applied edge-banding to the top of the THTLP and have taped off the banding on the side adjacent to where I'll be installing the sheet of veneer so that I don't get glue on the edge-banding.
This photo shows the veneer that I applied to the bottom of the THTLP:
This photo shows the glue applied to a sheet of veneer and one side of the THTLP.
The glue needs to set up for 30-45 minutes before setting the veneer on the panel. The glue is then activated by ironing the veneer to the panel.
Here's what it looks like with the veneer applied:
After letting the glue cure for about an hour, I used a flush-cutting bit in a router to trim the veneer to fit the THTLP exactly.
That process is repeated for the other sides. The tricky part was dealing with the "notch" in the THTLP. I made templates out of poster board and used those templates to select matching veneer and to cut the pieces to size.
Here's what the THTLP looks like after it's been completely veneered:
I used a razor knife to cut the bottom from the rest of the THTLP. If you look closely you can see the cut line.
This was my first venering project of any size. It wasn't as hard as I feared. Because of the time required to let the glue set (before applying the veneer) and cure (before trimming the veneer), it's not a quick process. All told, it took me 3 days to veneer the THTLP.
I haven't yet applied a finish. I plan to apply a Rubio Monocoat clear finish to the THTLP.