Thread: Veneering Question

I’m not an expert, but it depends on the substrate thickness, ie if my substrate was say 19 mm MDF i would do both sides, if it was 25 mm thick MDF I would only do one side.

Cheers Matt.

The only veneering I've done was on 9mm marine plywood using 2mm hand cut veneers. Left it a few days after taking one side out of the clamps with a few panels and they looked like bananas. No trouble with the ones that I took straight out of the clamps and veneered the other side immediately. I won't fall for that again.

More specifically I'm talking about veneering 12mm marine plywood.

Originally Posted by EagerBeaver71

More specifically I'm talking about veneering 12mm marine plywood.

Again no experience, but I would do both sides, so I sleep well at night.
You can use a less grade Veener, I think ?.

Cheers Matt.

If it's a sheet, big panel etc then veneer both sides. Are you using PVA? then even more necessary, same for hide glue or any water based glue. Might get away with it with solvent based contact cement or epoxy but it is still unbalanced but if you're in a stable humidity environment it'll probably come out flat when you veneer it, then use it in your project. If you've made a box for example, something which has fixed the panel then you can get away with veneering one side... typical Georgian era trick. Lots of ifs and buts

Poly glue is my latest favorite for new veneer jobs. The old guys 100 years ago and further back did use water based hide glue on all card tables. Veneered one side. And a lot survived well over time . But you also see plenty of very warped tops that would be very costly to fix as well.
Is your veneer still going to be 4mm thick? And how are you thinking of pressing it ?
4mm on one side will most likely warp the top if you don't take extreme care. Sliced .6mm on one side would be better. Sliced .6mm on both sides with the right glue and you would be way better off. Or sawn 2mm both sides with the right glue. And pressed well. And treated well before polishing it.

Originally Posted by auscab

Poly glue is my latest favorite for new veneer jobs.

Is this water based?.

Originally Posted by auscab

Is your veneer still going to be 4mm thick? And how are you thinking of pressing it ?

I'll be using the vacuum bag method. I'm thinking maybe 2-3mm max now.

Originally Posted by mic-d

If it's a sheet, big panel etc then veneer both sides. Are you using PVA? then even more necessary, same for hide glue or any water based glue. Might get away with it with solvent based contact cement or epoxy but it is still unbalanced but if you're in a stable humidity environment it'll probably come out flat when you veneer it, then use it in your project. If you've made a box for example, something which has fixed the panel then you can get away with veneering one side... typical Georgian era trick. Lots of ifs and buts

I didn't know you could use contact cement or epoxy for veneering, I'll have to look further into it.

Originally Posted by EagerBeaver71

I didn't know you could use contact cement or epoxy for veneering, I'll have to look further into it.

Lots of reasons not to use contact cement like it can creep and soften with heat and this can allow thick veneer with internal stresses to lift. Some finishes will soften it. And you must be very careful in the spreading because any lumps, bumps etc will telegraph through thin veneer.

Epoxy offers the luxury slow set so you can take your time. I used it to laminate a bunch of 3mm MDF to make the curved ends on this table and then to do the silver ash veneer. cooffee/keepsake table blackwood silver ash

I think I might take this conversation over to my Coffee table build thread as my questions are directly related to a few design aspects from that.

For those that don't know, I'm building a coffee table that swivels and opens up into a large games table, similar to the old regency style card tables. However my version will have a rail around the edge that has several purposes.

A Coffee Table With A Twist

I usually use epoxy for veneering, and always do both sides. It may not always be necessary, but why take a chance. It doesn't have to be the same veneer if it's not going to be seen, but I'd use the same thickness veneers.

I learnt the hard way that you should do both sides

Originally Posted by EagerBeaver71

Hi Folks,

Should you always veneer both sides of a substrate or can you get away with only doing one side?.

In furniture making because we aim to keep the weight down and want the piece where making to look elegant thin panels are used and it is cheaper to use a stable substrate with a decorative veneer applied and therefore you should always balance your piece either with a came wood veneer type or a veneer from a wood type which has the same characteristics. You will see a lot of old pieces of furniture where the face side is decorative while the unseen side is just plain veneer and it may not always be of the same wood type.

When I was at college in the wood machining shop they had a heated veneer press the lecturer would use Urea-Formaldehyde (or a commercial brand for the product would be Cascamite which you can buy in Australia) this could be pressed cold and left overnight or if you wanted a quick turn around you would apply heat.

When veneering porous timbers be mindful of bleed through where glue tracks to the surface through the pores in the veneer resulting in finishing issues, this can be a result of too much glue being applied.

Good points, Camelot.

I use urea formaldehyde (Cascamite) a bit for curved ply glue-ups as it dries solid - absolutely no creep so once the glue is dry the curved shape stays curved and doesn’t flatten out under stress.

For those who haven’t used it Cascamite comes as a powder which is then mixed with water. It also works well with veneers.

I’d love to get along with polyurethane glue but somehow I end up with a foaming mess every time. One of the US veneering gurus (I’ll never forget whatshisname) swears by it though (as does AlexS - see above post) so perhaps I need to be more patient. As a side issue it appears Titebond no longer make their polyurethane glue - anyone here know why?

Regards,

Brian