Thread: When making veneer yer gotta remember

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REgards lou

are you serious Bob . Do you take material down to 1mm in your thicknesser .
The smallest I've been game to do is 4 or 5 mm .

Thats where a drum sander comes into its own area of expertise

I can get it down to .4mm with the thicknesser if I'm careful.

I've got a drum sander and it works well.
Bought it to make veneer then me thicknesser packed it in and I found the new GMC thicknesser will make veneer.
The sander would be better for wide sheets and probably handle squirelley grain and maybe even knots much better.

Hi Bob,

Yep!

I use the thicknesser to no less than 5mm, so only really for drawer fronts.

To get a thinner veneer, I bandsaw a slice to about, say 2.0mm then, using either spray-on glue or (preferably) double sided tape, adhere the slice to a FLAT timber base slightly longer, and, paying attention to the grain direction, using a smoothing plane get it down to around 1.8 ~ 1.5 mm.

I know commercially available veneers are typically 0.6 or so mm thick, but for shop made veneers I think that this suffices - also less prone to cracking/splitting - and one can get a decently straight edge and using wedges for "clamping" (a tip recently picked up from a certain member!!!), can edge joint quite well.

Cheers!

Thats incredible Bob . Your thicknesser ( and talents ) must be better than mine .

Originally Posted by echnidna

I can get it down to .4mm with the thicknesser if I'm careful.

I've got a drum sander and it works well.
Bought it to make veneer then me thicknesser packed it in and I found the new GMC thicknesser will make veneer.
The sander would be better for wide sheets and probably handle squirelley grain and maybe even knots much better.

POINT 4 (.4) mm!!

Strewth! That's paper, not veneer! I was doing some on the last weekend down to 5mm with a DW733 and was thinking I wouldn't want to go any thinner without changing technique. Are you taping it down or gluing it to something else?

Originally Posted by Groggy

POINT 4 (.4) mm!!

Strewth! That's paper, not veneer! I was doing some on the last weekend down to 5mm with a DW733 and was thinking I wouldn't want to go any thinner without changing technique. Are you taping it down or gluing it to something else?

:eek: I've had glue lines thicker than that! Even gluing it down you'd need to be very careful to lay down an even coat and removing the veneer later, well...

Far beyond my meagre talents.

Hey Bob


Do you use a sled or "buddy board" when you do that? I use one to run sotck trough the plane and get them to 2mm with no problem. never tryed any thiner.

I haven't done anything wider than 150mm.
No sled or tape, just feed like a normal bit of timber.
1.5mm is easy but finer is a bit of messing around.
Below 1.5mm it only works with straight grain clear timber
I have a 10mm false bottom that I drop in so the stops on the machine don't limit the depth.

Originally Posted by Auld Bassoon

... using either spray-on glue or (preferably) double sided tape, adhere the slice to a FLAT timber base slightly longer, and, paying attention to the grain direction, using a smoothing plane get it down to around 1.8 ~ 1.5 mm...

Or you could try glueing a sheet of 240 grit onto your base, and putting your veneer stock on that for planing. I've used this technique to plane down to sub-millimetre thickness, but only thinnish strips. I haven't tried it with wide sheets. Be careful you don't sand the sole of your plane.

Originally Posted by zenwood

Or you could try gueing a sheet of 240 grit onto your base, and putting your veneer stock on that for planing. I've used this technique to plane down to sub-millimetre thickness, but only thinnish strips. I haven't tried it with wide sheets. Be careful you don't sand the sole of your plane.

That's exactly what I was worried about doing - esp with stock up to about 110mm wide.

Cheers!

Curious why anyone would feel the need to thickness down to or under 1mm except commercial veneerers who are all tight-asses:confused:

It raises the question. When dose solid wood become veneer?

Originally Posted by echnidna

When making veneer yer gotta remember to put it through the thicknesser with the grain.

Otherwise when you get it to about 1mm thick and you put it in against the grain, guess what!

It all goes up the dusty.

3 sheets out of 4 blown away
I'll have a fresh go tomorrow

The hard lessons are the best learnt!