Veneering question - splits/cracks

[FS7]

I have little experience with veneer. What I've done has either been thick enough that I treated it like any other glue up or small enough that simple clamping works well (or the FoodSaver could fit it).

As part of Grandpa Flynn's stash, he had plenty of veneer. It's variable, but it's mostly figured and mostly longer sheets. It appears to be standard thickness - 1/32" or less. Most, but not all, is in very good shape. Some of it - unfortunately, one otherwise very pretty piece of figured bubinga - has a lot of cracks. Now I'm sure there's a point where veneer cannot be salvaged, but I have seen highly figured veneer at one of our local suppliers (Colonial Hardwoods) that had a lot of cracks and splits and I assumed certain woods or figures were prone to it. Obviously, they must still be useful. So what do you do?

A little bit of browsing shows that veneer tape is used for seams. I assume that a similar approach would work for splits and cracks as they are still seams (assuming they can still be aligned normally). One video I saw held one side together with painter's tape and then the other done with veneering tape. I don't really know how else you would do it, but I wanted to make sure it would be the proper approach.

[GaryMc]

I have little experience with veneer. What I've done has either been thick enough that I treated it like any other glue up or small enough that simple clamping works well (or the FoodSaver could fit it).

As part of Grandpa Flynn's stash, he had plenty of veneer. It's variable, but it's mostly figured and mostly longer sheets. It appears to be standard thickness - 1/32" or less. Most, but not all, is in very good shape. Some of it - unfortunately, one otherwise very pretty piece of figured bubinga - has a lot of cracks. Now I'm sure there's a point where veneer cannot be salvaged, but I have seen highly figured veneer at one of our local suppliers (Colonial Hardwoods) that had a lot of cracks and splits and I assumed certain woods or figures were prone to it. Obviously, they must still be useful. So what do you do?

A little bit of browsing shows that veneer tape is used for seams. I assume that a similar approach would work for splits and cracks as they are still seams (assuming they can still be aligned normally). One video I saw held one side together with painter's tape and then the other done with veneering tape. I don't really know how else you would do it, but I wanted to make sure it would be the proper approach.

No veneering expert here, but the few times I have joined sheets was using the old method of slight overlap and using a straight edge so the two pieces naturally fit together.  Don't know whether this would work well for figured material, though.  At any rate I think you would need to get the pieces apart along a crack to have any hope of alignment, especially for long sheets.  BTW, a rotary fabric cutter is this veneerers best friend, along with LOML's self-healing cutter mat.
Gary

[jstraw]

I often tape splits and cracks in veneer. As long as I can close it with out any gaps or buckles, I can get it glued without any evidence of the crack. Any gaps will need a patch.

This is an article on how to tape a seam, but works on cracks and splits also. If the crack is small and fits tight, I can get away with just some painter’s tape.

https://www.joewoodworker.com/veneering/...taping.htm

[rwe2156]

You may or may not be able to pull it together with tape without distorting it. If the veneer appears very dry or wavy (often the case with burls, crotches etc) you can use a veneer softener first. My experience has been small cracks will close up and can be secured with tape.

However, after gluing (hide glue) they did reappear, but remained 90% closed.

The parts that have longer splits actually did better.

[FS7]

You may or may not be able to pull it together with tape without distorting it.  If the veneer appears very dry or wavy (often the case with burls, crotches etc) you can use a veneer softener first.  My experience has been small cracks will close up and can be secured with tape. 

However, after gluing (hide glue) they did reappear, but remained 90% closed.

The parts that have longer splits actually did better.

I've looked at them a bit. There's only one I can recall that wasn't easily pulled together and aligned. I don't know how soft they need to be - they are definitely dry, but still flat. It sounds like I will be able to work with them.