Okay, I read Mike Burton’s “Veneering, a Foundation Course” and attempted to veneer some scrap pieces with hot hide glue. Needless to say, my first shot at this yielded less than spectacular results.
First, the oak veneer I was using is at least 30 years old and pretty brittle (a freebie, it was sitting in the rafters in my Dad’s shop since the early 70’s). Am I stupid to try to work with materials that are this old? It had been kept flat and aside from the fragility, it seems to be in all right condition.
Second, what’s the magic of the veneer hammer? Wouldn’t a j-roller be more effective. It seems to me that the primary function of the hammer is to squeeze glue out from under the newly applied veneer. A j-roller could accomplish this without causing the veneer to squirm around and would reduce the risk of tearing it.
One thing I had particular trouble with was trimming off what veneer overhung the pieces after the glue had grabbed. I don’t’ have a veneer saw and even if I did, the excess glue “boogers” that accumulate at the edges would clog it up immediately. I was using a utility knife with a new blade and it still wanted to tear the last little bit when cutting across the grain and cause the veneer to fracture along grain lines when cutting with the grain. Any suggestions for alternate trimming methods?
Thanks to all
-Kurt
Replies
I read the Burton book, but I can’t remember much about it. I can say that I’m a dedicated hammer veneerer, I’m heading out to the shop right now to hammer veneer a sideboard top that measures 70 x 27 using a single sheet of very large veneer.
I have not used a roller, but my thought is that it won’t work, one I don’t think you could apply enough pressure to squeeze out the excess glue. The other problem as you noted hide glue sticks to everything, and the roller would quickly get clogged.
To prevent the veneer from wandering around, you need to have your glue at the right consistency, which in my experience means the glue should run off the brush in a steady stream. When it’s too thick it drops off in blobs and too thin it forms like rain drops. I tend to go a little on the thin side for hammer veneering. One tip I use and I don’t think Mr. Burton noted, is to apply a thin sealer coat of glue to the substrate the day before. This stops the rapid absorption of the glue, and will allow for a little thinner glue. Using thinner glue will help prevent any blowouts, where overly thick glue actually bursts through the veneer. This also happens if you try to "push" glue that is too cold. Another trick to keeping the veneer in place is to stick one spot, let the glue gel (and that takes no time at all) and then using an iron reheat the other areas, and hammer them down.
A veneer saw is the best way to cut veneer. When cross cutting veneer that seems to want to split, using either a knife or a saw, I treat it like using a plane on endgrain, in other words I work from both edges toward the center.
Clean up can be a problem since hide glue dries very hard. I try to remove the worst of it while it is rubbery, but don’t try and wipe it off with a damp rag. The glue that squeezes out actually helps adhere the veneer at the edges, where it needs it most. After the glue is dry I run a router with a flush trim bit in climb cut fashion around the edge. The areas where the glue is in the way get trimmed down with a plane or file.
For brittle veneers, I (and everyone else, I’ve ever read about) use a mixture of water and glycerin applied to the veneer a couple of days ahead of time. Press the veneer between boards with plain paper (no printing) between the leaves. Change the paper at intervals to remove the excess moisture. Most books I’ve read say to get the veneer back to dry, but since hide gluing gets the veneer thoroughly soaked I can’t see why this is necessary so, I don’t even try. This should make your veneer useable.
Cutting with the grain: watch which way the grain runs and cut so that when it splits (and it will), it does so *away* from your panel.
Against the grain: don't try to go all the way through in one pass. Take several swipes at it, scoring a bit deeper each time. And working from both ends towards the middle will help, as Rob suggested.
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