Round veneer top table

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Austin, Texas
A few years ago I read an article, I think in Fine Woodworking, with lots of hints about how to veneer a starburst design on a round table, and tricks for veneer trim bands around the edge of the table, etc. It was really good, but I didn't expect to ever make a round dining room table.

I got a commission this week to build a 6 foot diameter round dining room table, you got it, veneered with starburst and trim bands. I spend a couple hours looking through my woodworking magazines, and couldn't find the article.

I asked a friend who has every issue of Fine Woodworking, and their on-line service. He remembered the article, but couldn't find it - either on-line or in his collection.

Since I keep all the old woodworking magazines, I should still have it. If anyone recognizes the article and can find what issue it was in, I would sure appreciate it.
 
I went to my DVD collection of the magazine (1975-2009) and found that issue #111 had a good article on starburst veneer on a round table.

By the way, the online collection of Fine Woodworking articles you get with an online membership is very limited. Because of royalty issues, a lot of articles are not there. The DVD on the other hand has almost all of the articles. I found all of this out when I sent a complaint to Taunton Press about not being able to find many articles with my online membership. They contacted me, explaining the above facts and offered me a great deal on the DVD.

It was hard to explain to the wife how complaining about their service, resulted in me giving them more money. The DVD is much better than their first CD product that I bought many years ago. I am glad I bought it.
 
Ok, Charlie. I found your article. It is in issue #206, but also check out #127. The DVD has a real good search engine. I finally got smart and typed in "sunburst" instead of "veneer" and really honed in the results.
 
Charlie,

Go to the online magazine index, type in "veneer" and view the results. I think it will find what you are looking for. One result was Tables, veneered, sunburst - #146.

http://www.taunton.com/cgi-bin/artresult-fw.cgi

Thanks for three things, Bill
1. The last time I looked for the Fine Woodworking magazine index, I got wound up in their sales pitch for an on-line subscription (which I don't want since I own 2/3 or more of the magazines). I am glad to have the link to the index.
2. Issue 146 seems to be about the right timeframe. Of course 146 is missing from my collection, and there is nothing in the table of contents for page 118 or on the subject, so I'm not sure.
3. Your PM suggesting issue 206 was helpful... I had skipped over it during the search since I didn't want/like the scalloped edge, but when I looked today, that was just an alternate, not the primary technique. That article will be very helpful.
 
go gettum bill!!! thanks for helping him so fast and well.. and for theheads up on the dvd,,

I just happened to have the DVD with me, still in its plastic wrap. When I saw Charlie's post, I broke it open and loaded it up. It is really cool in that you have a pdf of the entire magazine, including the ads which is way different than the old CD version.

They had a special on the DVD, but I don't see it any more. Customer Service gave me the special price in advance plus free shipping, so I jumped on it.

It is really hard to tear myself away from the DVD, as it is very addictive.
 
Thanks for three things, Bill
1. The last time I looked for the Fine Woodworking magazine index, I got wound up in their sales pitch for an on-line subscription (which I don't want since I own 2/3 or more of the magazines). I am glad to have the link to the index.
2. Issue 146 seems to be about the right timeframe. Of course 146 is missing from my collection, and there is nothing in the table of contents for page 118 or on the subject, so I'm not sure.
3. Your PM suggesting issue 206 was helpful... I had skipped over it during the search since I didn't want/like the scalloped edge, but when I looked today, that was just an alternate, not the primary technique. That article will be very helpful.

Charlie,

I looked into #146 and it only has a gallery picture of a sunburst veneered table, but no article. From my search, only issues #111, 127 and 206 showed potential.

Edited for Update: Need to add issue #69 to the list.
 
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There is also an article in the June 1987 issue (17) of Wood magazine that may be useful to you. I have this article but I can't tell if this might be of some help.
 
The article in Fine Woodworking 206 reviews the basics pretty well, and has a few tricks for the edge of the table, so I am proceeding.

The article I seem to remember, that I was hoping to find (but maybe I was dreaming or something) had some extras... I sort of remember some techniques for cutting the triangles in place (no templates), maybe even hammer veneering a slice at a time (no tape-up), and a comment at the end about how easy the router-cut banding was, that the author looked for reasons to use it. If it really does all that, it was probably written my Miss America, who also solved world hunger while building the table. Or was that world peace instead of hunger? Or both.

Thanks to everyone for the research.
 
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