Veneer

[woodsman83192]

All;

Just ordered the Glycerin Vegetable, Fiberglass Screening, and Plastic Resin Glue off Amazon. Going to use the classic veneer flattening method, I guess. Just cut my wavy Elm veneer to size. Any tips I should know before beginning?

Got about 1770sq ft of mixed veneer, all flat sawn 8' - 10' long, 6" - 9" wide. If 3/4 of the pile is good, I'll be happy. Mixed Elm, Birch, Oak, and Walnut. Paid $70 online auction. Have all the cabinets in the house to make new doors on, making veneered panels for them. Any tips would be helpful. Might be a 'you suck' in there for the veneer cost, but if I ruin it all in training, just an 'I suck'.

Jake

[fredhargis]

A buy like that goes beyond "you suck". I'd check Veneer Supplies for any of the tips you'll need, otherwise there's nothing special about flattening it. Lots of paper, I use my vac bag...but a lot of guys seem to be able to flatten with platens and weight (don't try using weight for the glue, tho.....DAHIKT). Congrats. I think if I was making panels for doors, I'd cut the veneer down to manageable pieces before I started flattening...an 8' piece is a little unwieldy. What substrate do you have in mind?

[woodsman83192]

I've cut the first pieces around 2.5' long. Was going to use Titebond Cold Press glue once everything was flattened. Thinking about attaching to MDF 1/4" panel. Do not know how to get a straight enough edge on the veneer for an edge joint with 2 pieces of veneer. So was thinking about attaching 2pc of veneer to 2 separate substrates and then gluing those edge to edge. If all else fails or I cannot get enough strength for that, I'll back the 2 veneered panels with one big 1/4" MDF substrate behind. Hope that was easy to follow. Any objections?

And the auction was for Timeless Timber in northern WI. The place closed down and there was tons of flooring, Hemlock, Pine, and veneers for sale. Of course all the under water logs and really nice material was sold before the city took control of the building -- debt issues. But I focused on the veneer since I knew it would be easy to win at a low bid. Online auction, just down the street from work, perfect situation -- a mixed pile gave me more options and enough material for a while. There were piles of 6,000+ sq ft of birch veneer that went for under $100. Should have bid on the QS oak veneer that went for $111 or the Walnut around that price.

I'll check out Veneer Supplies for the technical info then. Thanks!

Jake

[Richard D.]

Veneer Supplies is the online sales for Joe Woodworker. The information you are looking for is on www.joewoodworker.com.

[fredhargis]

One way to get the straight edge you need is to clamp some number of pieces in a stack between two MDF platens. Then take a router and flush trim the sandwich. You could also saw it, but that would mean sawing through the platens, not a problem but you may need more material for platens. You could probably also shoot the edge with a hand plane, though I doubt I'm skillful enough to do that..so I haven't tried it. if you do the platen trick you'll need to clamp it tightly, which may mean clamps in the middle of where you cut; I just move the clamps around through the process.

[woodsman83192]

Fred;

That's a great idea, thanks!

Jake

[fredhargis]

Forgot to mention: when I've done the platen/router trick with veneer I always climb cut...had too much splintering going the other way.

[handi]

Was that from the auction in Cali this week?

Ralph