Thread: Resawing veneers - thickness and quantity question

As far as how many pieces you can get will greatly depend on how accurately you cut the veneer and the thickness of the blade you use.

I cut instrument sound boards to finish at between 3/32 and 1/8th" that gives me 3 boards per inch when the blade kerf is taken into account.
My initial cut is 3/16 to 1/4 so if you are looking at 1 mm veneer i'd re-saw @ around 3mm.

That is if you have the use of a drum sander to finish them off. If you don't I seem to think you will have some problems in flattening them that thin, as a thicknesser will destroy the veneers on the way through.

Cheers

Steve

Like Steve, for 1mm veneer I cut to about 3mm thickness on the bandsaw, then through the wide drum sander to finish, with the veneer attached to a flat board.

I only use a 1/4" 6tpi blade, (biggest my saw can handle well), and my kerf is about 2mm, so I'd probably get 4-5 veneer layers from a 1" board if I cut carefully and the saw's well adjusted. I've never taken too much notice. I usually cut a couple of slices off a thicker piece then use the remainder for something else or put it aside for next time.

I'd expect about 7 slices from a 25 thick board with either the Lennox blades, if I put the Woodslicer on and cut about 1mm thick I'd expect closer to 12 slices.



Pete

I cut at 3/32" to 1/8" and joint the stock to create a flat face to go against the fence after each slice of veneer is removed. I'd probably only get 6 sheets from an inch of timber.

I try to use a 2" or larger board from which to cut veneers to keep my fingers away from the blade and to have something to hang on to. I also have a high fence to support the entire face of the veneer sheet as it is cut.

Glue the jointed (smooth) side to the substrate and then sand the exposed surface now the veneer is supported. Alternatively, sand the thin veneers smooth with a drum sander.

A second hand carbatec drum sander a mate grabbed for me is one of the very best and cheapest machines I have. I absolutely love it. It's made box making an absolute pleasure.

Getting thin veneers reliably is an art. Sharp blades are obviously a must.

I made some 1mm veneers a few nights back. It was like an addiction to see how thin I could get....the thickness, plus the kerf is obviously the answer, but as others point out, sanding to final is important, not thinness off the blade.

Steve and other point out rightly what is iterated in the few veneering books I have here...3mm sand the back, glue down to backing then sand or scrape to final.

Btw, I've tried commercial veneers, but I dislike they are so thin. 0.6mm leaves absolutely no margin for error. I'm not good enough to use them.