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Thread: Flattening Veneers
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1st October 2023, 04:03 PM #16... and this too shall pass away ...
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Actually I'm confident they are at about 12% moisture and are dry enough in the centre. I cut the end off the thickest veneer and tested again ... still 10-12%.
I think my next attempt will be to steam a couple of veneers, clamp them flat and see how that works. I am quietly confident that will work. I have used the hot water method before with some success, but this time the veneers are a full 3 mm thick and some of the grain is wild, resulting in considerable warping in some places. Mind you, I also have significant warping in some sapwood edges.
I use a vacuum press to clamp the veneers onto the substrate (always use PU glue). It works like a charm. It was Ian who encouraged me to try veneering, and who gave me more than a few clues as I went along. Veneering revolutionized my approach to building cabinets, and my family and friends love their veneered pieces. Thanks, Ian.
Think about the power of this forum. One bloke made a suggestion. He provided plenty of gentle encouragement and hints and tips along the way. He revolutionized my workshop and the products it produces. That was Ian. There have been others. This place is magic. My wife loves her frilly knickers cabinet. She too says "thanks Ian".
Jinghua's Frilly Nickers cabinet.jpg IMG20200628080515.jpg
If the woman from "Prisoner" had a four foot long steam press I would steal it and smuggle it into my workshop.
(Don't ask why that pic wants to lie on it's side after several attempts. I have no idea.
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1st October 2023 04:03 PM # ADSGoogle Adsense Advertisement
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15th October 2023, 03:34 PM #17... and this too shall pass away ...
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Don't cut green veneers ... ever.
The plastic tubing arrived and I bought a Wagner steamer. Two 200 mm wide veneers were steamed and then slipped into the vacuum press and left overnight. They came out looking like propellors. The sharpish kinks were gone, but the propellor shape was awful.
Took a couple of days off at the Gold Coast with SWMBO.
Today I heated those veneers again ... for 45 minutes this time ... just to make very sure the wood was close to 100 degrees all the way through. The veneers were left in the plastic tubing, laid out on the edge of a workbench and the veneers were clamped between an inch of bench top and a two inch lump of NG Rosewood. Because the veneers were left in the tubing and because clamping was faster this time I am confident that less heat was lost during clamping. In addition, the rate of cooling will be much slower this time.
I'll find out how things went in the morning. However, one thing is certain. I can never recommend that we cut green veneers to speed up the drying process. I have some cedar veneers (cut from dry timber) that are a couple of years old that are still as flat as the day they were cut and sanded.
This is a failed experiment, and I hope others can learn from it.
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16th October 2023, 11:00 AM #18... and this too shall pass away ...
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The veneers were taken out of the clamps this morning.
They still have a little of the propellor shape about them, but now it is minor and I think I can live with it.
However, yesterday's conclusion is as valid as ever. It is a mistake to cut green veneers.
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16th October 2023, 02:14 PM #19
Even commercial sheets of ply often exhibit the "propeller shape."
Not so sure that it is a mistake cutting green veneers, perhaps more like it being a mistake cutting green veneers from some figured woods.
I quite often cut green veneers, well more like thin boards / strips from woods that are no where near their final EMC. Yes, there are some regrets but overall it considerably speeds up the drying time. I tend to cut the more problematic woods prone to splitting & shakes down to manageable sizes for my applications. I'm also cutting for lamination work so not really concerned about surface defects.
Stacking green cut thin woods between sacrificial cauls and letting the thin strips / veneers dry by migration of moisture rather than air circulation & evaporation also helps. I use this technique quite a lot when glueing up laminations of thin strips & veneers for re-cutting into components for inlay banding construction. It takes longer to dry but is more reliable in producing "flat" laminations. It's very difficult to make accurate and precise components from cupped laminated boards.Mobyturns
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16th October 2023, 02:23 PM #20... and this too shall pass away ...
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Interesting ...
Had not considered this.
Nevertheless, unless I am desperate I think my days of cutting green veneers are over. Usually, I can buy most timbers dry, but on this occasion I had scored a bargain with green timber the seller needed to get rid of. Next time I'll bite the bullet, pay the extra and buy dry timber.
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