Best tool for trimming veneer.

[joez]

Hi all,

I spent the weekend working on a Davenport Desk I am making and I spent half of the time triming veneer using a sharp stanley knife.

In some cases this led to some veneer tearing out on the last few mm's of the board.


Is there anything better out there? Whats the best way to trim of the excess veneer from a glued up part? Are veneer saws a better option?

PS. I have one of the double sided veneer trimmers but it doesnt do a good job on timber veneers, also some of the components I am making are 60-70 wide and wont work with these style of trimmers anyway.



TIA

Joe

[soundman]

Just a word on stanley blades.
I use quite a few blades carpeting speaker boxes and cases amongst other things.
The edge goes off on these quite quickly. What is sharp for one thing won't be sharp for another. Replace your blades often, very often if what you are doing is critical. I also find the WISS brand blades better. You can get them in a despenser of 100.
If using genuine stanley blades never buy the standard blade buy the heavy duty version.
A sharp chisel may give you some joy but keep it sharp.
cheers

[markharrison]

The veneer saw will do a better job than a stanley knife, particularly on the rip where a knife tends to follow the grain.

The trick with a veneer saw is that they are not sharp and therefore nearly useless when you buy one. Here's what you need to do.

1. Use a V shaped file set at 90 degrees to the saw to get nice sharp points.

2. Use a regular flat file at about 30 degrees from the base of saw. That is, you are filing the edge of the saw that faces upwards. You now have a sharp veneer saw.

I've seen an article by Tage Frid or Frank Klausz in FWW (I cannot remember which it was so long ago) saying that he filed both sides of the edge. The problem with that, in my opinion, is that when the veneer saw is used against a straight edge to guide it the cut will not be directly indexed on the straight edge. In any event I don't think this is necessary.

[joez]

Thanks Soundman!

I always though all blades would be similar but what your saying makes sense, I'll keep my eyes out for WISS blades.


Thanks MarkHarrison,

I think a veneer saw would be a good way to go, I have seen a similar article on sharpening a veneeer saw on:

http://www.joewoodworker.com/veneering/saw-sharpen.htm


Can you recommend a brand/supplier of a good veneer saw??


Thanks
Joe

[markharrison]

Joe,

Good link and a better explanation of what I was trying to say. I just used a file instead of the stone. I don't think that the finer finish of the stone will make much difference in this particular case.

I don't think that there is much point spending too much money on a veneer saw. I bought a Pax saw because that was what was available. The trick is ensuring that it is sharp. Sharp is sharp is sharp )