Opinions on grain on drawers

My Opinions on grain on drawers

Lee Schierer, McKean, PA

>I like to see grain flow from one drawer or door tot he next. I would cut all three from one piece if I could.

Lee

What about...

Clint Searl, at the base of Haycock Mtn

>Running the grain vertically and continuous down the stack? And if two sheets together are enough to span 24", you could also do a book match. That might be kinda wild.

Clint

Re: Opinions on grain on drawers

Felix B

>Regardles of the grain direction (vertical, or horriz.) - I am for the continues grain if it's at all possible.

Felix

Re: Opinions on grain on drawers

Barry Irby

>I would go with Clint's idea or sequence match them as you suggested. The identical piece out of each piece.

agree

bill tindal, E.TN

>My prejudice against all-the-same-option may result from the fact that with faux grain laminates drawers and doors look the same.

Interesting, but...

Doug in Denver

>The venner is not wide enough to do all three drawers in a continuous grain - maybe not even quite two. It's about 10" wide. Also not wide enough for book matching. So my choise i think are really two. (1) similar grain from end to end cuts from one piece, or (2) "identical" cuts from three pieces.

Re: Interesting, but...

Howard Norman-Prescott, AZ

>I would go with similar grain end to end cut from one piece.

Howard

Re: Opinions on grain on drawers

Moses Yoder in White Pigeon, MI

>An interesting puzzle. I am reading Franklin Gottshall's book "Design for the Craftsman", which is really interesting. I have been interested in design for the past few years especially, even though I actually suck at it. Design really comes down to personal preference, but in the end your personal preference may not come out the way you thought it would, and occasionally you get a result that most people really like or you can get a result that most people think is really ugly. So the following is my personal preference based on 2 minutes worth of pondering the puzzle. The grain on the drawers should go horizontal if the piece is going to look fairly traditional. There are very few instance where I would use vertical grain on a drawer front. If it had some sort of border around it, vertical grain might look okay. Second, if the drawers are all the same it would be pretty obvious what the craftsman did, and in my opinion would not be very interesting. If they are all different but balanced in some way so that the balance is not so obvious, that could be interesting. An option I would consider is to cut all the pieces from the same part of the veneer slices, then flip the center one upside down so it bookmatches the one below, and flip the top one so it bookmatches the center drawer. This would be a balance that is not so obvious, but the end result would depend on the features contained in the veneer.

Re: Opinions on grain on drawers

Doug in Denver

>That is an interesting solution I had not thought of. I will consider that when I lay it out. I am tending away from the identical drawer idea. It might look mass produced, which is hardly the idea of using something like quilted bubinga. I agree that the grain should almost always run horizontally, though the "pleats" in a veneer with this much figure have a way of making it look vertical even though it isn't.

Compose with the grain

Ellis Walentine

>From your description, I can't quite picture whether this piece will have a traditional or a modern feel to it -- or something entirely different. There are cases to be made for any and all of the above suggestions depending on the context of the piece, the room and the clients' taste.

All we know is that the drawers will be veneered with fancy bubinga. Will there be horizontal dividers between the drawers? Will the bubinga panels be flush or set into frames? Will there be cockbeading or other edge treatments on the drawers that will somehow outline or shadow the veneer? You see what I'm getting at.

If you look at traditional furniture, some of the most stunning compositions have been made with dissimilar boards, from the same tree for color uniformity if possible, composed so that the visual motion of one drawer flows and blends pleasingly with the grain patterns of adjacent drawers and case details. Often, if the pattern is a straight repetition of the same figure and grain, the piece will look cloned and "veneered" as opposed to appearing to be made from thoughtfully composed solid stock.

The solution, not to sound like a broken record, is to mock it up. Lay your sheets of veneer out in the approximate drawer relationship on a layout table or bench and play with the vertical and lateral positioning of the sheets until you find a combination that pleases you and blends together nicely. You'll know it when you see it. Don't worry about wasting the extra veneer. You bought it for this project, and the scraps will find plenty of other uses.

Ellis Walentine, Host

PS Personally, I'd stay away from vertical orientation unless the piece is to be modern looking.

a semi-related question

Jim in Houston

>Where did you purchase your veneer? I'm anticipating a similar project veneering drawer fronts soon.

Thanks,

Jim

I bought he veneer at.....

Doug in Denver

>I bought it at the only place in Denver that sells raw wood exotic veeners. It's called B&B Rare Woods. It has a web site. If you click on "news" and then on "veneer scans - actual photos" you can see his actual stock which he updates regularly. I would not hesitate to buy from him mail order. I think he's the sort of old-school person who would be upset if you were not satisified. It's a husband/wife operation out of his 3-car garage. But don't let that fool you into thinking he's a fly by night operation - he's been doing it 30 years that way. That makes it the home-spun kind of place I like to deal with. And though some of his stco he says he will only sell the bundle, ask him to break his own rule. He offered me individual sheets from a bundle without me asking. His bubinga stock is pretty.