I’m building a couple of night stands (small tables). I have a piece of elm burl. It’s 1-1/4 thick and has some lovely grain. I want to put a single drawer in each table and want to use the burl wood for the drawer front. Each drawer front will be about 14″ wide and 8″ high (it’s arched, so is lower at the edges).
My concern is that once I resaw and surface the two pieces, they’ll be about 1/2 thick and that seems a bit thin for a drawer front, particularly if it’s burl grain that might not be as durable as straight grained stuff. What do you guys think?
If people have experience with 1/2″ thick burl wood drawer fronts, I could just go with that. Another option I’ve thought of is to cut some thicker veneer on the bandsaw and laminate that onto a piece of walnut as the two woods would be somewhat similar in color and it would give some strength/thickness to it.
Any ideas would be welcome.
Replies
Your veneer idea is the best. Cut it so that it ends up 1/8" or thinner. You can do this by making sure that both sides of your slab are flat and then resaw both faces off with your band saw. If accuracy or smooth consistent cuts are a problem, make your resaw cuts extra thick; maybe 1/4". Then glue them down to your walnut, smooth side down. Once these are cured, you can run them through the planner to smooth out the resaw cuts and thin the veneer down to 1/8" or less. I did exactly as you are doing a few years ago and it worked beautifully. Just take measures to prevent snipe in your planner or you will waste quite a bit of your new veneer. And, make very light cuts.
Definitely veneer. Burls can be tricky I'd use hot hide glue.
I have also had very good results using Weldwood Plastic Resin glue. I use a small short nap roller to apply it to both surfaces. It has good working time and will fill small gaps.
I would use a drum sander rather than a planer to bring the veneer to final thickness. With sanding, you get zero snipe and zero tearout.
Yeah, I wouldn't be running thin burl through a thickness planer. Tearout is the best scenario. It's very likely nothing but dust would come out the other side.
You can do it if it is properly glued down to a thicker substrate first as suggested, have sharp knives, and take very fine cuts. However, I agree, a drum sander would be better. I would still glue it down to a good substrate first.
Thanks guys, really appreciate all the help!
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