Veneering? An initial trial and result (& learnings)

[Henry W]

All (update in 2nd post)
In the context of making a bathroom vanity, I asked previously about how to cover the end panels. Willem noted the commercial practices and some ideas about veneering. I was resisting veneering because I had no experience with it.

In this case I have some smallish pieces of thermally modified ash (2-3' off cuts from Raleigh Reclaimed). I have enough pieces for the drawer fronts, but not enough to make solid ash sides; besides the expansion contraction of a solid panel on a plywood case, especially in a bathroom, seems problematic.

So with a new-to-me bandsaw I tried some resawing for veneers. I was pretty pleased with what I could get using a 3" wide piece. Anyone have a drum sander they could run 12-15 SF of veneer strips through? Or as these are already reasonably flat, can I veneer and then just sand the front face?

Onto my how-to questions:

1. What substrate is most appropriate? I have 3/4" birch plywood (not big box sourced) - is that suitable? I need two panels smaller than 24x36 and I am not real excited about 'really flat' MDF, especially in a vanity (obvious water potential). I may have enough 1/2" baltic birch - any reason to go thinner?

2. Is a balance veneer needed here (guessing yes, but I'm still asking)?

3. I know yellow glue is not great for bent laminations, but this is flat stuff. Do I need a veneer glue or is the Titebond 3 glue I have already sufficient?
3b. Is a glue roller really a critical tool?

4. I do not have a veneer vac bag - so I think this will be glued under cauls and clamps. See any issue with the plan, especially for a 1st timer?

thanks

 

[Henry W]

So l decided to just jump and get in deep with a trial run.
Pic below is a scrap piece of 3/4 plywood with 5 pieces of shop sawn veneer - thermally modified ash. Overall size about 17x22 ish
There are a few minor gaps, but nothing to be too ashamed off.

Learnings:
1. Veneering not as hard as I thought - though truthfully it was the resawing that really kept me away from trying this. My RIkon (10-325?) handled this incredibly well. The panels necessary for the vanity project will only be somewhat larger than this one (24x30 ish), so I am hopeful.
2. As cut, these veneers are flat enough to use without drum sanding or planing the strips. I did use ROS sander and 100 grit paper to smooth the face of the glued veneers after gluing, and this took care of whatever inconsistencies there were. The most significant thickness inconsistency was because I used the final sliver of wood left after the last veneer slice was cut; this final piece was thicker than the rest of the pieces, especially on one end. Sanding for a few minutes took care of that.
3. Old clumpy TB3 works - not that I would use that for the real thing but it was all I had at the time.
Any reason to pick original TB, TB3, or TB Hide Glue for veneering the real thing?
4. Packing tape (decent thickness) worked fine as 'veneer tape' across the seams. What I had provided decent stretch.
5. It's likely easier to start with a source piece (to be resawn) that has two straight edges - mine had one straight and one rough edge. To straighten the rough edges I clamped several veneer pieces together in between two pieces of wood and used a block plane on the combined edge (I saw this technique shown on a helpful 'how-to-veneer YT video (maybe Rob Johnstone from Woodworker's Journal?).
6. Cauls and a bunch of clamps worked fine, but I'd need more and longer cauls for a larger wider piece.
7. So far, the piece is not warped at all, and so I 'may' not need a balance veneer. Probably better to be safe than sorry in the real thing though. Not sure what I'd use for backing veneer - I sure don't really want to resaw it all.

 

[danmart77]

Do not use the hide from a bottle. It doesn't tack quickly enough.

 

[Henry W]

Do not use the hide from a bottle. It doesn't tack quickly enough.

Thanks Dan, appreciate the advice. That is one of the (few) glue options that I have not pursued, and now have a reason not to pursue.

 

[mpeele]

When I slice veneer I glue the veneer stock to a caul which is a bit longer and as wide or slightly less that the veneer stock. I like the caul to be at least 1 1/2" thick and one that I use the most is 4" x 8" x 3'. The caul is prepared by jointing one edge and face if the veneer stock is planed. If it's not planed sometimes i'll plane the caul so I can plane one face of the veneer stock after it's glued to the caul. I use hide glue so I can remove the last slice and reuse the caul. The caul and a planed front surface will give you the max number of sheets and a consistent thickness.

I use Wood slicer 1/2" 3/4 VP blade for slicing veneer because at one time they had the narrowest kerf available to me and my bandsaw only had a 1/2 hp motor. For me and my bandsaw I have found a variable pitch really does make a difference. I've sliced veneers 8" to 10" with it and never sand the veneer until its glued to a substrate.