Veneer Tips?

[JRD]

While committed to the "Dark Side", every now and then I try to learn something new.

I'm trying to master veneer application and am looking for any good tips. The veneer I have is not
perfectly flat, in that it has quite a few ripples and refuses to lay flat to the board I want to apply it to. My last attempt with a covering board and weight, still didn't leave a very good result. There were places where the veneer had air spaces between it and the underlaying board.

Any tips on how to achieve a perfectly flat application with veneer that isn't very flat coming out of the package?

All tips would really be welcome right about now as the frustration factor is rapidly increasing.

Jim

 

[dino drosas]

This link should give you all the information you will ever need!
http://www.joewoodworker.com/veneering/veneering-tips.htm

 

[Ozzie-x]

Dino's recommendation of the Joe woodworker site is right on. That is probably the best site of veneer tutorial. Voice of experience here, you can do some small stuff with clamping and pressing, but to do much serious veneering you will need to go the vacuum press route. I started out with clamp pressing with marginal results. Vacuum pressing is night and day better and easier to. It takes all of the worry and hit&miss out of it. I haven't had a single panel turn out bad since I started vacuum pressing, it's almost like magic to take the workpiece out of the press and it is dead flat, smooth and free of wrinkles, bubbles, puckers, etc. I built the venturi vacuum unit and "gave-in" and just bought a commercial vacuum bag and have not regretted the expense at all.

 

[nelsone]

What size panels are you planning to veneer? I have done some panels in the 12x24 range with platens and cauls with no problems. As for flatenning the venner, you can get flatener that I think is sprayed on. The veneer is then placed between some newspaper and weighted down. I haven't needed to try this yet, but you should be able to find info online.

 

[mlzettl]

Jim,

The recommendations on using a vacuum press are spot on, as is the advice on the Joe Woodworker site. Occasionally, I will use clamps and cauls on a small piece, but in general, vacuum is better and easier. As far as flattening is concerned, although you can purchase a flattening agent, I use a mixture of water, alcohol, glycerin, and yellow glue in a spray bottle. Costs almost nothing for a large amount, and it will last a long, long time unless you're veneering daily. I can't remember the proportions, but I'm sure it would be easy to find. You just spray it on, enough to saturate the veneer, put the veneer between sheets of newspaper, put it in the press, either vacuum or mechanical, then replace the newspaper every few hours or so until the veneer has dried. It comes out dead flat, then you can go ahead and glue it to your substrate. I have used this technique successfully on the most gnarly burl veneers that you can imagine, and it works like magic.

One other piece of advice: use a dedicated veneer glue. Do not use yellow glue, contact cement, etc. The aliphatic resin glues (like yellow wood glue) can have "cold creep," which is a phenomenon where the glue can allow some movement of parts under continual stress after the glue has set and dried. This may not be a problem for small areas, but larger pieces, or in bent laminations, future problems may arise. Also, veneer glues tend to bleed through the veneer less during glue up. I have found it best just to use dedicated veneer glue for all of my veneering, then I don't have to worry about it. There are several different glue options on the Joe Woodworker site, and the pros and cons are listed. For the most part, you can't go wrong with anything that he is selling.

Hope this helps.

Matt