DIY Audio or OCD to the next level

Kitchen Knife Forums

Help Support Kitchen Knife Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
I’m not sure if this is the correct place to ask this question but I’ll ask anyways. I’m using Apple Tv to stream Apple music. Is there a better music streamer for Apple music besides Apple TV?
 
Last edited:
its radiata pine underlayment which is basically the substrate for the Zebrano veneer I'll put on top, I never have done any veneering so I think I can manage it, I'll be using hide glue :p (high bloom number) like the violin makers do. Did some test piecesthat seemed far more easy than I imagined.
Why didn't you just get premade veneered panels? There's plenty of companies making any combination of sheet material and veneer you want.
 
Why didn't you just get premade veneered panels? There's plenty of companies making any combination of sheet material and veneer you want.
thats far too easy ;-)

No I wanted specific wood for sound....and I got a great deal on the flexible Zebrano veneer.
The veneering is not my main worry anyway and I like to dig into new things. Hide glue is a revelation!
 
I finally could pick up the backing veneer...nice stuff (back side is showing) ! Now just to find a storage solution in the tiny space I created to work in...

And picked up a Festool router, since I never used one before either ;-)
IMG-20250106-WA0002.jpg
 
test baffle inside is veneered, veneering a concave surface is a bit%^....the glue can be revived by some heat (hot ironing) and moisture....
for the second half I added some Ureum to the glue and veneered on the kitchen table as 2 'C in the shed makes the glue set crazy fast....especially the glue with a 320 Bloom number I picked (which turns out to mean that it gels very rapidly)

will try to front side tomorrow, a much larger surface, if that is equally difficult as it's a massive piece I may use spray on glue for the front side...
IMG-20250112-WA0009.jpg
 
note to self, sharpen the veneer saw even further...it catches too often and rips more than that it cuts.....medieval tool....
 
test baffle is done, the veneer on the back is already enough to keep the flex triplex in shape, after veneering the front side it follows the curve of the flare perfectly

IMG-20250113-WA0004.jpg
 
so the speaker array will go horizontally (and the horns will then be put in the vertical plane...I flipped the speakers back to vertical and am now sure it's more hifi/high end and less natural sounding...somehow the idea of a line source is not that great...after all; whether a danger or prey is 30 cm more to the left or right is not THAT important, so I figure our hearing and brain processing power is more tuned in to distance
 
getting better at hammer veneering with bone glue...turns out bone glue is easier to work with and getting some experience under my belt counts a lot too.


last backing veneer for the flat pieces, two more backing veneer to go on flares...I decided to use contact cement for the Zebrano as the surfaces are so large that veneering them in one go AND making sure the stripes line up in a decent way is impossible (for me) using bone glue. (have to say that I'm growing real find of hide/bone glue)
Pic is showing the piece 10 min after veneering, so wet spots still present.


IMG-20250126-WA0004.jpg
 
The front sides are done, using contact cement is considerably faster, downsides is that the cement stinks like &^%^$.

I opted for contact cement because the surface areas are just too large to effectively position the veneer using bone glue, the contact cement bonds on contact but I have been using baking parchment in between to position the veneer and pulling the sheets out one by one while pressing the veneer onto the wood.

the half face mask with active carbon works so well I was baffled by the smell when I pushed it off my face after doing the first piece....zero smell of the MEK based solvent while wearing it.

IMG-20250203-WA0001.jpg
 
Last edited:
slightly more involved....the flares...first one done

IMG-20250204-WA0013.jpg
 
My nr 1 regret in my kitchen renovation - before it's even built - is that it will have no zebrano veneer. Really would have loved to do zebrano drawer fronts, but it just becomes way too busy above an oak laminate floor.
 
The front sides are done, using contact cement is considerably faster, downsides is that the cement stinks like &^%^$.

I opted for contact cement because the surface areas are just too large to effectively position the veneer using bone glue, the contact cement bonds on contact but I have been using baking parchment in between to position the veneer and pulling the sheets out one by one while pressing the veneer onto the wood.

the half face mask with active carbon works so well I was baffled by the smell when I pushed it off my face after doing the first piece....zero smell of the MEK based solvent while wearing it.

View attachment 386827
mek is pretty funky.
 
started with finishing prep, lots of scraping, moisturizing and more scraping....so I had to do a test fitting to keep myself motivated.
In the breaks I'm reading up on cooking up varnish based on oil and Dammar resin:chef:

IMG-20250207-WA0001.jpg
 
Oil and other wood treatments are their oen complete rabbit hole filled with just as much hearsay, halftruths and speculation qa the whole knife and sharpening world. :D
Trying tonproperly untangle all of that is a full project by itself...
 
Oil and other wood treatments are their oen complete rabbit hole filled with just as much hearsay, halftruths and speculation qa the whole knife and sharpening world. :D
Trying tonproperly untangle all of that is a full project by itself...
true, yet there is luckily some more info these days...and YT footage by a pretty well known Luthier in Cremona...and after all, I 'just' need to find a varnish that stays softish, not brittle hard and there is no absolute right or wrong, not as if I'll be making ten more flares to test the best recipe...well actually I'll be making test strips, so...

Cooking the resin is sortof black magic
 
Done some more research and I think I have a process that'll work;

2 applications of ground/sealer, 3% hare glue to prevent the varnish getting too deep into the wood
Varnish made from cooked Dammar resin and 1: 2 washed linseed oil, diluted with turpentine

now for the material to be delivered
 
Back
Top