Thread: Joining large thick veneer sheets

The most accurate method is to place the veneer between two sheets of 6 mm plus ply or mdf, with a square edge. Aline the edge of the veneer with the edge of the ply. Then run a hand plane along the edge. This will give you a clean edge, once you have done this to both pieces.

Then place both places of veneer on top of each other and sandwich between the two sheets of ply. Run the plane past again, and will have two matching clean edges.

You will then need to join the veneer together by using veneering tape, much the same way you suitcher a wound. This allows you to check for gaps and for a tight seamless fit, before committing to the glue up.

If you do not own a sharp hand plane, you can set up a sharp router bit with a ball bearing, but the finish will not be as good.

You may think its a bright idea to run your sandwiched veneer across the jointer, a kid did that once it all came apart on him and lost his a fingers. Just because he was to lazy to sharpen his hand plane.

Hope that helps.

Thanks thumbsucker.
I will buy some veneer tape and sharpen my hand plane.
Would you recommend an epoxy like west systems to attach the veneer to the substrate?
Cheers

Polyurethane will do the job. Epoxy works better when you are laminating together and you need some stiffness. If using epoxy I would use recommend, Techniglue Two-Pack Epoxy Gels over west systems.

Do not use PVA as it contains to much water.

I was reading a Robert Ingham book recently - he has an interesting way of joining veneers together prior to laying them

Edge preparation, etc. is pretty much as described above (i.e. planed). He then uses veneer tape on the good surface to pull the edges together tightly. So far pretty standard.

The next step (which I haven't tried) is to position the join along the edge of a bench/table, veneer tape side downwards, and let one leaf hang down like a hinge to open up the joint. He then applies a fine fillet of glue along the exposed end grain of the veneers before closing up the joint on a flat surface and applying tape to pull the joint together. Wipe off excees glue along the joint obviously, and leave to dry. He suggests that this technique makes the veneers up into a single sheet ready for laying, and that the edge joints are strong enough to hold the veneers together without any tape at all.

Your mileage may vary, etc......

The method described by Mr Bush does work, this is how we are taught how join the thin bottoms to our draws, that are about 5 mm thick. I am sure it would work with veneer as well.

thumbsucker - that's interesting to hear. I'll have to try it myself on some scrap timber to see how strong the joint is.

FWIW Robert Ingram just states that he uses an 'aliphatic resin' for the joint, so I'll give it a go with my favourite (Titebond III). Modern glues are so effective - you forget how little surface area is required to give a strong bond.

Thanks Mr Brush,
Some people say veneer tape sometimes leaves marks, although I guess if your gonna put the piece through the drum sander once it is joined it doesn`t matter?
Can you use other types of tape like clear packing tape , that can maybe be slightly stretched that will pull in a bit?
I joined 2 small pieces (600mmx 200mm)by placing them on a base of mdf with their side edges hanging over 5mm , ran blue painters tape the length of the mdf in the centre to stop the veneer sticking to the mdf then 2 other strips either side to allow level allignment, then placed two more sections of mdf on top leaving 20mm gap in centre to avoid veneer sticking to top mdf sheets .I then applied light clamping pressure downwards to keep veneer sheets flat and then applied sash clamps to pull together the 2 veneer sheets.(3 sash clamps were initially placed under the supporting mdf base, 2 positioned on top lastly.)
I used techniglue which I applied to both 5mm faces before placing them on the mdf base.
I trued the edges using a fence and spiral cutter.
The result was fairly good but you can still see the join!
As I said , I`m gonna sharpen my plane and buy some veneer tape and some Titebond III ! I just like the idea of using clamps rather than tape to pull together joins but as I have never used veneer tape I guess I may be under-estimating its effectiveness.
The thing that is different is I am trying to join large sheets of 2m x 450mm that are around 4mm thick.
I am sure veneer tape works just fine on 0.6mm veneer but what about thicker??
Anyway a bit of trial and error should sort things.
Thangs for all your help and suggestions fella`s.
Ed

Ed,

I dug the book out (Cutting-edge Cabinetmaking - Robert Ingham) to check the detail of this, especially wrt the taping up.

On the show surface, hold the veneers together with short strips of 18mm masking tape across the joint, stretched slightly as applied to pull the edges together. These initial strips of tape should be maybe 150mm apart. Then run a length of tape over these strips along the length of the joint. After this you can flip everything over, and hang one edge off the edge of the bench to open up the joint for glue,as previously described. The non-show surface will be uppermost when the joint is closed up again; wipe off excess glue and apply tape to this side as well to hold the joint until the glue dries.

Remove all tape from both sides, and you should have a tapeless joint. Maybe he uses masking tape for everything precisely because it is easier to remove than proper veneer tape?