Help finding a veneer that can will look good when illuminated from behind

Hi all....

I'm currently in the throws of nutting out a ambitious (for me) project. A key part of my design is an acrylic panel that has laser cut letters through it on which I want to glue a layer of wood veneer and illuminate from behind (thus having the laser cut letters "project" through the wood veneer). I haven't done much woodwork and especially not much work with veneers and exotic woods, treated/DAR pine is about as far as my experience goes (hence the ambitious claim :D).

I received a sample of veneer which I think is Mountain Ash (I haven't got it with me at the moment) from a company (I'm not sure if it OK to post company's names on this forum so I'll err on the side of caution and wont). I've tested my design using this sample and am certain it will work but here is where the request for help comes in.

The Mountain Ash is a very red wood, when it's illuminated it allows the red light through nicely but not much else. Ideally I'd like more of a white light to come through as was wondering if anyone could provided suggestions on the best type of wood veneer to use to achieve this? Even if someone had some different veneers and could shine a torch through them and report back what colors came through that would be great :2tsup:.

I have considered making a small test rig and heading down to the big smoke (in my case Melbourne) and hitting up some suppliers to see what I can come up with. I'm not sure how receptive they would be to kind of activity - anyone dealt with veneer suppliers in Melbourne? Would this be likely something they would let me do? Can anyone recommend a supplier?

Alternatively, perhaps someone here has some veneer that would work out and be willing to sell it on? I need a square about 60 cm x 60 cm and as thin as possible.

Hopefully I can come up with something and get this project of the ground. A lot of the design work is done I just need to get the materials together and get started.

Thanks heaps!!

Maple would be nice if you can get hold of it in a veneer, quite light honey colour when illuminated and nice grain. Try Pops Shed chirnside park. 03 97270611


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Cheers Carl...

I googled some images of maple and the grain looks nice, not to complex, which will be perfect for what I need. I'll try Pops Shed in the next week or two when I get some free time to go for a drive.

Thanks mate!

No problem, it may be hard to find a 600mm square piece though.


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If you're stuck on using a veneer then this post is pointless...

However a few years ago I was involved in a refit of the casino here in Perth. One part was 40m2 of different sized glass panels that I printed a woodgrain directly onto the back of. We then used progressive layers of frosted finish vinyl to get the amount of light coming through just so...

You could get a woodgrain printed onto vinyl then the letters cut out, then apply the vinyl to the acrylic...I found the image I used on the 'net, free. It was huge, both in mms and resolution, that's important
Once you have an image you could approach your selected printer to print a small sample in various "weights" to get the end result you are seeking...

Why veneer? That is, what aspects of the wood are you seeking to show? The reason is that timber is a very variable material both between and within species, so unless forums know what look you are seeking it can be difficult to respond. When I use veneers they are all relatively thick, so no light or only a little light would show through. The veneers (rotary cut, micro thin) used by plywood manufacturers would probably be your best options, so it would be worthwhile looking at those manufacturers. hre in Brisbane Sharp plywood used to sell sheets of the veneers they used for their plywood, but they were never 600 wide.

Good luck

David

Please post some pics of the build process. We'd be most interested.

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