Best way of joining 4-way book matched veneer

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DaveO

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DaveO
I decided to challenge myself and make a 4-way book-matched veneer panel as the top to my next jewelry box. Any good suggestions on jointing the veneer to get good seams?

Dave:)
 

jmauldin

New User
Jim
I always use veneer tape on the side the glue goes on. I'm not sure you can get any at Lowe's, etc. Check with www.woodworker.com. That's Woodworkers Supply in Graham. Or Rockler should have it.
Jim in Mayberry
 

woodguy1975

New User
John
Veneer tape for the actual joint reinforcment. A straight edge and a veneer saw to get the perfect fit by having the veneers overlaped slightly and saw them both at the same time. Do two halves and then take those haves and saw them to get a perfect seam in the other axis. Veneer tape the seams and then glue to your substrate. :)

Good Luck,

John
 

DaveO

New User
DaveO
woodguy1975 said:
Veneer tape for the actual joint reinforcment. A straight edge and a veneer saw to get the perfect fit by having the veneers overlaped slightly and saw them both at the same time. Do two halves and then take those haves and saw them to get a perfect seam in the other axis. Veneer tape the seams and then glue to your substrate. :)

Good Luck,

John

John, what is the best way if you don't have a veneer saw. And what side does the vener tape go on. I have 3-holed tape?

Dave:)
 

willarda

New User
Bill Anderson
Two methods to joint veneer edges:
1. Router+flush trim bit. Joint two boards (3/4") on the jointer or with a handplane to get a straight edge. Assemble your veneer packet together with tape and clamp this packet between the two boards, with just enough peeking out to get your edge. use a top or bottom bearing flush trim bit in your router.
2. Veneer say method. Joint one board as above. Use a piece of 1/4" ply or masonite as a base. Clamp your veneers between the base and fence. Align the veneer saw on the jointed board face and pull the veneer saw towards you holding it vertical and flush to the ence.

I prefer the latter method because clamping thick packets can sometimes be tough and if the packet moves during the cut, you need to recut the edge. Also, the router can whip out a bit of veneer very easily. The latter method gives me more control.

Veneer saws are specialty saws. They have a curved blade and the teeth are flat on one side (the side that runs on the fence) to give a perfectly flush cut. These saws are amazingly effective.

Assembling a veneer packet:
1. Number the veneer pieces as they come off the "tree". If they are out of sequence, you can often figure this out by looking at the endgrain pattern and/or looking for a defect or figure in the veneer face and aligning these down through the sequence.
2. You can see what your pattern is going to look like and experiment with the effects before you even cut a single fiber of wood. Get two mirrors (12" bathroom mirror tiles from Lowes, for example) and stand then on end, at right angles to each other, touching at the corner. Place a veneer piece flat on the bench in the corner of the two tiles. You will see the 4-way bookmatch like magic! Flip the veneer piece top to bottom or front to back to see all possible design possibilities.
3. Tape the pieces together so that they do not shift. Often the edges of pieces in sequence do not necessarily line up perfectly so do not use that as a guide.
4. Cut the packet then take the tape off, and bookmatch 1+2 and 3+4. If the edges are not even, reassemble the packet, rejoint your fence and do it again. Do not try to edgejoint one piece of veneer.
5. Align the first bookmatch pieces (1/2 and 3/4) back to back with their common inside edges together. Note that 1 will be on top of 4 and 2 on top of 3.
6. Cut the common edge with a saw. When you open the book, the two sets will have a common edge, and the veneer faces will be pointing in opposite directions.

Good luck! And do not forget to veneer the back of your board at the same time.
 

willarda

New User
Bill Anderson
Those were some notes I put together from that workshop. It was a great deal of fun. Darryl had brought down a vacuum press for the demo and as soon as I saw that I went up and told him I would buy it so that he would not have to lug it back up to VT. So I got a good discount on a great setup! It has been put to good use. I have tried gluing with cauls, etc, but there is not comparison with using a vacuum press. You can make one easily with anyting that draws a vacuum, I have seen articles on this in woodworking mags.
 

DaveO

New User
DaveO
Thanks Bill, I am glad you got your reply posted, sorry about the difficulties. I am going to have to give the router method a try. I sandwiched my veneers sheets between two pieces of wood and ran them across the jointer and got a good edge on the horizontal. The I took my sandwich to the miter saw and cross cut it to get my other 90° edge and that is where things didn't come out as well as I hoped.
Here's my first attempt, good thing that there were 8 sheets in the pack.

4-wayveneer001.jpg


I guess I'll try it again tomorrow :eusa_doh: :eusa_doh: :crybaby2: :crybaby2:

Dave:)
 

willarda

New User
Bill Anderson
Try the veneer saw! The jointer method is okay, but it is a one-chance deal in that if the assembly is long and you loose focus for one microsecond when running it over the jointer, you will not get a sufficiently straight face. Easier to joint a board by itself, fiddle to get it just right, then use that as a veneer saw fence or a router fence. Also, try the mirror trick, it will save you a ton of headache by allowing you to precisely see when you want your glue lines to be.
 

DaveO

New User
DaveO
If I get a veneer saw is that something that is good to go, or does it need any sharpening. I am not the best at sharpening, especially saw teeth. Do you recommend any particular brand or type?
Dave:)
 

Ken Weaver

New User
Ken Weaver
David Marks had an episode doing this. He used the jointer for the edge (very carefully) and actually used bar clamps. He did them in two glue ups. Ken Massingale has a TIVO of that show, PM him and see if he can get you copy.
 

willarda

New User
Bill Anderson
DaveO said:
John, what is the best way if you don't have a veneer saw. And what side does the vener tape go on. I have 3-holed tape?

Dave:)

The veneer tape goes on the side you want to see eventually, although there are some types of pierced veneer tapes that are meant to be glued to the substrate. Isialy you have to be concerned about the tape shape transmitting through the thin veneers.

Never use a knife when cutting veneers either long grain or crossgrain because the knife will either follow the grain and drift off the cut line or it will pull out fibers cross grain. Always cut into the center of the veneer face so that you do not runnoff the edge and cause tearout.

With veneer saws, you do not want any set to the teeth, and one side is perfectly flat and the other side of the saw face is tapered to the points of the teeth. Do these faces on a stone, for example.
 
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