Thread: Resawn veneers badly warped

Like this.

Maybe try steam & a big flat weight.

Hi Dengue,I would not worry about the warping in your veneer it is quite normal and not particularly severe.
I have some 0.6 mm veneer that is 10 times worse than that,I recently had a vacuum pressing catastrophe with some buckled veneer that I thought I might get away with.Lesson learnt there

When resawing on the bandsaw, it might seem counter-intuitive but set the fence up so the veneer come of the blade on the right hand side.

Thanks Mark, I feel a bit more confident about it now. My main worry was having the 3mm thick veneer sheet crack when pressed on to a substrate.

If two sheets have the same twist and warp, and are stacked on on top of the other, is there any care to be taken as to the orientation of two sheets on either side of the substrate? ie., should I open the two sheets like a book and use those upper surfaces to glue, or should I just slip the top sheet to one side and glue the uppermost faces?

Like this.

thanks for posting the photo, Cliff, much appreciated

Hi Dengue,I would not be too worried about the veneer orientation.
I don't recommend veneering onto plywood,I find MDF the best carcase material.
It is best to apply a balancing veneer to the back of the panel especially if quite thin material, although when using epoxy resin glue and Vacuum bagging techniques this seems to be less important.I have vacuum veneered some 6mm MDF on one side that has not suffered any appreciable distortion.

I am currently making a cabinet from jarrah that has inset panels that require veneering on both sides so am getting in some practice with the vacuum bag.

If using any water-based glue or Hide glue then single sided veneering can render you panel Banana shaped when dry.
I have even warped quite thick mahogany carcase timber when using Gluefilm due to the considerable heat that needs to be applied.

Dengy's other photos

I'd be inclined to try the steam / water, glycerine and metho options, leave clamped between cauls for a few days, and then go through the paper drying process

If you can't steam the pieces (takes substantial time and steam I believe) perhaps you could soak the veneers in boiling water repeatedly then clamp them for several days. Anyway, just a thought, with only one successful attempt at this under my belt. Hope it works out for you - Huon is certainly worth it!

Steaming isn't that hard once you are set up.

Have a google for steamers.

Good photos Dengy. You've obviously been making a study of how to get your object to stand out against a white background. Good luck with the veneer's, doesn't sound like you'll have too many problems.

Cheers,
David

Hi Dengue, You have avery interesting challenge. If you are using glycerine be very careful. I used some in water ( only 10% glyceine) and tried to take a warp out of some Red Cedar and ended up with bigger issues. I think you will find that glycerine takes the moisture out of timber and that situaton is quite difficult to remedy.

God luck, one thing about working with wood is that you get to challenge the old grey matter.


Router

aldav, thanks for your comments, but the photography is just luck. There was no sun, so set up three white boards on the kitchen table and took pics. The shadow comes from the fluoro light.

Router, you have put the wind up me. I intend soaking the warped pieces in a veneer bath of 70% distilled water, 15% glycerine, and 15% metho for 24 hours, with weights applied to the veneer sheets in the bath, rotating the sheets every few hours. After 8 hours on the bath fully submersed, there is still a significant buckle in the sheets when I lift the weights off.

Will try and post some pics in the morning. Still having trouble with the uploader today

Hi all, I soaked two of the huon pine veneer sheets in a bath of of 70% distilled water, 15% glycerine, and 15% metho for 24 hours under weights, and although most of it is now flat, there is still a badly buckled section right where there is a knot. I don't think anything is going to flatten that area, and have concerns that it will be distorting the final result after being glued to the substrate.

Will now start to dry them out between butchers paper and wads of newspaper, changed frequently for the first few hours, all the time under clamping pressure. This may take a few days, as it is raining and 95% humidity now (1pm Friday) and for the next few days, so nothing is drying thanks to ex cyclone Winston

MORE PROBLEMS WITH UPLOADER. Would not upload any of the 5 files, all less than 200kB. Have put the pics on my server, but the uploader refuses to recognise the URL.
You can see the files on the server here

Photo #21 - $10 bath from Big W
Photo #22 - UHMW breadboard and weights in the bath to flatten veneers
Photo #23 - Weights removed, showing veneer submerged in bath
Photo #24 - The offending buckle viewed side on
Photo #25 - The offending buckle viewed from opposite side