Thread: How to laminate pieces from a timber block ?

I think what you are trying to ask is can the “block” be resawn, the answer is yes. I take it you do not have a bandsaw or tablesaw? Maybe someone in your area from the forum will chip in and offer to help by resawing it for you on a bandsaw and maybe even running the veneer through a drum sander for you to get to your 2mm thickness. You are trying to make a veneer, not a laminate. Veneers are thin boards, laminates are multiple layers of veneers. Cheers Cal


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What do you mean by laminate?

Reading your post I suspect that maybe you actually mean you want some thin slices milled off the block? (At 3-5mm I'll call them veneers. )

If you do mean a laminate, which is basically making a ply sheet, would you want a veneer cut from the block glued to a different substrate or would you want two (or more) veneers glued together cross-grain to make a 2ply laminate?

Yes, sorry ! I meant veneer . I do own a band saw, but its the cheapest Ozito, and also a tablesaw same brand, the latter I find quite scary.
The actual cavity cover measures approx. 200mm long x 100mm wide. So...I think I see how it can be done on a table saw, but I think it will need to be done by someone with lots of hours up. Such a short piece of timber (250mm) to do on its edge which I assume that's what you mean ?
As long as the saw blade cuts approx 110mm deep ?

Yes, you will need to find someone with a bandsaw that has the capacity to cut at a depth of 200mm or at least a bit more than the 100mm that you are after. 250mm would not be too short to resaw to 2 or3 mm on a bandsaw or tablesaw, you just need to find someone in your area that will do it for you. Have you tried a men’s shed locally?


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If folks are worried about it being too hard to hold I would hot glue it to a piece of MDF or other wood.

Plane it flat on both sides while its a block and you can hold it in a vice.
Saw off double what you need in thickness on one of the sides you planed with hand saw.
Glue it to the other planed side of your block with Titebond or PVA, but put a sheet of newspaper in between with the glue.
When its dry plane your piece carefully down to what you need ,then at the end slide a chisel under and it will separate at the paper.
Be careful how you separate and how you get the glue off your piece . Water will curl the flat piece you want so scrape or sand.

Rob

i do know a kitchen cabinetmaker but he's always so busy, so i try not to ask. There is a local mens shed so i will give them a try. Its funny sad that when i asked a couple of well known local timber merchants who do some custom machining, they both said "its hard to find anyone who will do anything like that anymore".

Hows that joke go again ? .... Q. What did they have before no more gaps ?
A. Tradesmen

Thank goodness for this forum to help late starters like me !

There are a couple of reasons that most commercial places don't do this sort of thing anymore... but it boils down to cost effectiveness and OH&S.

As you've already been told, it's difficult to hold the piece safely, especially in larger scale commercial equipment. Rough-cutting a thicker veneer is easy enough, but flattening and bringing down to size not so much. (You don't need 110mm depth of cut on a table saw... just 55mm or better. There's nothing to say you can't flip the piece over and do a half-depth cut from both sides.)

If I was asked to do this at work - and don't forget that they have to enforce OH&S friendly procedures and I legally have to obey - I'd end up gluing it down to a piece of ply or similar that is large enough to safely run through the machines. Then I'd glue scrap pieces before, after and alongside the veneer to minimise snipe. Run it through the machine and... well... that's one side done. That's an awful lot of waste for little real return.

If I was asked to do this at home, well... that's a different kettle of fish altogether. My equipment's at a different scale, I can use alternate methods that are slower but less wasteful and there's not an hourly rate hanging over my head creating a 'deadline.'

Really, for a job like this the people in these forums are the much better option for what you want to do.

Just saying.

Originally Posted by Skew ChiDAMN!!

There are a couple of reasons that most commercial places don't do this sort of thing anymore... but it boils down to cost effectiveness and OH&S.

As you've already been told, it's difficult to hold the piece safely, especially in larger scale commercial equipment. Rough-cutting a thicker veneer is easy enough, but flattening and bringing down to size not so much. (You don't need 110mm depth of cut on a table saw... just 55mm or better. There's nothing to say you can't flip the piece over and do a half-depth cut from both sides.)

If I was asked to do this at work - and don't forget that they have to enforce OH&S friendly procedures and I legally have to obey - I'd end up gluing it down to a piece of ply or similar that is large enough to safely run through the machines. Then I'd glue scrap pieces before, after and alongside the veneer to minimise snipe. Run it through the machine and... well... that's one side done. That's an awful lot of waste for little real return.

If I was asked to do this at home, well... that's a different kettle of fish altogether. My equipment's at a different scale, I can use alternate methods that are slower but less wasteful and there's not an hourly rate hanging over my head creating a 'deadline.'

Really, for a job like this the people in these forums are the much better option for what you want to do.

Just saying.

Thanks for that Skew.

I was thinking similar this morning. While its probably obvious, I can cut my 250 wide block into 2 equal pieces 120mm approx. wide.

Id feel a lot more confident pushing a 120mm high (off the table saw desk) piece through my Ozito table saw, which has a hardly used finer toothed Irwin blade in it, and taking a 6mm veneer off it. Finish on a bench sander.

However... to a Mens Shed and to a more experienced table or band saw operator ! Hard to play a guitar with a depleted finger count.

Thank you All for pointing me in the right directions to achieve the goal. I will post a photo later on of the cover on the back of the guitar. Might be a month.

Originally Posted by Skew ChiDAMN!!

There are a couple of reasons that most commercial places don't do this sort of thing anymore... but it boils down to cost effectiveness and OH&S.

As you've already been told, it's difficult to hold the piece safely, especially in larger scale commercial equipment. Rough-cutting a thicker veneer is easy enough, but flattening and bringing down to size not so much. (You don't need 110mm depth of cut on a table saw... just 55mm or better. There's nothing to say you can't flip the piece over and do a half-depth cut from both sides.)

If I was asked to do this at work - and don't forget that they have to enforce OH&S friendly procedures and I legally have to obey - I'd end up gluing it down to a piece of ply or similar that is large enough to safely run through the machines. Then I'd glue scrap pieces before, after and alongside the veneer to minimise snipe. Run it through the machine and... well... that's one side done. That's an awful lot of waste for little real return.

If I was asked to do this at home, well... that's a different kettle of fish altogether. My equipment's at a different scale, I can use alternate methods that are slower but less wasteful and there's not an hourly rate hanging over my head creating a 'deadline.'

Really, for a job like this the people in these forums are the much better option for what you want to do.

Just saying.

Hi again,

Ended up joining the Mens Shed. A retired carpenter there ran it through a table saw from both sides. Then through a thicknesser down to about 5mm.
I did the rest by band saw at home, and then lots of scraping and sanding to get a pretty good fit. Finished it in truoil , but maybe it needs a few more coats to get the gloss levels the same. Anyway, that's easy to do anytime.

Thank you for all replies and advice. I will be posting a thread about violin finishes soon too.

Here's the end result:

Originally Posted by donnyb

Ended up joining the Mens Shed. A retired carpenter there ran it through a table saw from both sides. Then through a thicknesser down to about 5mm.
I did the rest by band saw at home, and then lots of scraping and sanding to get a pretty good fit.

Looking good!

And with all fingers intact, I presume.

Originally Posted by Skew ChiDAMN!!

Looking good!

And with all fingers intact, I presume.

Yes, all fingers. But I let the retired carpenter do the Mens Shed's big table saw cutting ! I hid, sort of, behind a post , watching that small slab of wood go through with a hand push piece . Naaaah.... scary.
But there was no problem at all. Although he did go for a strong coffee afterwards.....