This tip is from Graeme Scott, a maker I trained many years ago that Daren worked with for some time. Graeme, like Daren, is an expert in veneering.
Success in making, and in my mind true craftsmanship, is in combining speed with quality. Graeme’s workshop in Bideford is well known for high quality and efficiency; he does not concern himself with design, for he works to specification, to drawings, so his price and efficiency is critical.
Graeme was showing a new guy how to tape up a veneered panel quickly. Two sheets of veneer had been trimmed square and straight and needed taping up to hold them together so they could be glued to the ground. Graeme uses 2″ wide clear tape, and puts one strap about four inches long across the two veneers, in the centre, making sure that the two are aligned correctly. He then tears off about six pieces of clear tape, each about the same length and sticks a corner of each to his forearms and shoulders, perhaps three on each side, so he looks a bit like a Sellotape Christmas tree. Having done that he moves down the veneer and another strap goes on four to six inches away from the first, the veneers are pinched together so no light is visible between and the tension on the strap is light; too much tension on the strap and the veneer will pull over the joint. Strap-strap-strap-strap-strap-strap – job done. Now Graeme had taken the time to show this new guy a process, one that had been developed over years to save time without compromising quality, how did he feel to see that guy a hour later tearing off one bit of tape……………