Thread: Veneering zebrawood

I was told once that glucose diluted with water will soften bubbled 0.6mm veneer so that it does not crack when applied to a substrate so it would probably help in your glue up.Try it on a sample .

Originally Posted by Peter36

I was told once that glucose diluted with water will soften bubbled 0.6mm veneer so that it does not crack when applied to a substrate so it would probably help in your glue up.Try it on a sample .

Another option, Carbatec sell a product called Special Veneer Softener but I haven't tried it.

Originally Posted by Harry R

I have a maple ply snare drum shell that doesn't look particularly attractive (but sounds very nice). I also have this block of zebrawood that I picked up for $20 at a garage sale a few years ago, waiting for the right project. So, I figure a zebrawood veneer is in order. I need to keep the ply to ~1mm thick as otherwise the shell will be too thick for the drumheads and hoops. I want the zebrawood 'stripes' to be vertical.

I plan to use my bandsaw to slice the veneers and then glue them together to form a continuous veneer sheet. As the 'stripes' or grain is vertical, this is a standard glue up, not end-grain to end grain.

Advice needed:
How do I glue the sheet of zebrawood veneer onto a 14" diameter snare drum shell without the veneer cracking?

with difficulty

first the veneer strips need to all be the same thickness (thinness), typically 1mm or less, with each strip a consistent width
you stick the veneer strips together edge to edge using veneer tape on the show side only
it helps greatly if the edges are champhered to an angle so the sheet naturally forms a cylinder about the same diameter as the drum
then glue to the drum, ideally you'd use a vacume bag, but hot hide glue (or contact adhesive) and a veneer hammer is an alternative.
a mandrel inside the drum will aid in stopping the drums sides collasping as the veneer is applied.

Although I've almost certainly seen a snare drum somewhere, if I fell over one in the street I wouldn't recognise it, so the above assumes the drum is a cyclinder.


also, will changing the thickness of the drum change it's sound? I'm curious

Thanks for the feedback - hadn't even thought of the chamfering issue. Having done some research, it looks like zebrawood is not the easiest wood to use for veneering - especially on a round substrate. Given I've never veneered before, I've decided to not use the zebrawood. Instead I'll use this piece of blackheart sassafras that is simply stunning. This should be much easier to work with.

Ian, a snare drum is probably the most used drum on a drumkit and it is round. Here's one I made some time ago https://www.woodworkforums.com/f40/ja...e-drum-111409/

The veneer will probably have a very minor effect on the drum as the rest of the shell is 10mm thick. In any case, sassafras (and zebrawood) have been used to make snare drums, so any effect would not be for the worse.