Using Fine Woodworking Tools

To achieve this, I cut the veneer along the shaded side so that there is less shading on the end that will become the bottom of the fan.

 

The picture on the left is “before” and the picture on the right is “after” I trim the shaded portion to reduce the amount of shading on the end that will become the bottom of the fan. How much shading to leave is a matter of personal preference. Some people want just a hint of shading along the edge, while others leave more shading (as I do). Make a couple of fans with different amounts of shading and see what you like.

From those, I select eight or nine pieces that I feel look the best and set them aside for use in the next steps.

You can see that all of them have had their shading trimmed. The cut edge of each piece is now sanded to make sure that it is straight.

We’re next going to cut the pieces into wedges, just like we did with the compass rose, remembering to position the pieces so that the narrow shading is towards the point of the wedge.

We wind up with eight or more pieces now cut into a wedge shape.

Each piece should be sanded along the edge we just cut to make sure it is flat and straight. Now we can begin assembling the fan which we do by putting the wedges together with their points aligned.

Once we put eight of them together, we have the basic shape of our fan.

Now, turn the fan over so that the show face is up and tape the seams with veneer tape. We do not want more than four layers of veneer tape so plan your taping to minimize overlap.

Let the tape dry well – set the piece aside for some time, and press it between two pieces of wood to keep it flat while it is drying. Once it’s dry, turn the fan over and remove all the blue tape from the glue face.

Your fan should be slightly more than a half circle. While you don’t have to do this, it’s nice to flatten the bottom before going on. Do this on the sanding block.