This is a bit on the odd-ball side of veneering.
I’ve all but given up on finding decent cherry veneer plywood in my area that wouldn’t require selling half my shop to afford. Thus I bought a couple timbers of 8/4 cherry and proceeded to re-saw my own veneer.
Given that my bandsaw techinque is less than well practiced, I opted to resaw the flitches at 1/8″ plus thick. With moderately good results. After cutting each flitch I re-jointed the face of the timber so I always had one side of the sawn flitch that was flat and smooth.
Then being careful to take ever so light cuts I managed to run the thin 6″ wide pieces through the planer ending up with some fairly nice 6″ wide by something less than 1/8″ thick pieces of veneer.
My thoughts are to laminate these to a stable substrate, say MDF, then further surface them down level either with the power planer or by hand. The eventual finished pieces will be 9 3/4″ wide x 57″ long serving as borders to a mirror in our master bathroom. They’re that wide because the two flanking light fixtures mount on this wood trim.
OK – Don’t have a vacuum system. What’s the best way, or is there a way to glue these uneven thicknesses up onto the substrate? Or is this an opportune time to convince the wife that I need a vacuum system?
I’m pretty sure I know the answer to this already, but do I need to laminate the back side of the substrate as well. Thinking (knowing) the answer is yes, does it have to be cherry or will any hardwood suffice?
I will eventually finish the thickness of the face veneer down to something quite less than 1/8″, I just made ’em that thick so I’d have some material to work with.
Thanks in advance for any ad-vice.
Replies
Absolutely you need to veneer the back, it does not need to be cherry, but it should be similar in thickness, etc.
Given the humidity in a bath room hide glue may not be advisable, but otherwise it would be the ideal method of doing this veneering since it can be applied without clamping.
Frankly I don't quite understand using veneer in this project. Why not just use solid cherry? Using solid gives many more design options, I would think. Its an interesting exercise but I'd use the cherry veneer on a federal demi-lune tables or something. Just a thought.
Steve -I had originally considered using solid stock. However these two rather wide planks, if you will, are restrained along the long edges on one side by a solid ceramic tile wall, mud set and totally unyielding and on the other, the mirror. Two widths of wood on either side of the mirror with no place to go when, not if they decide to expand. Second, when I ripped the initial piece from the larger 8/4 timber I got about 6" through the rip before the kerf closed so tightly I couldn't push it through the saw. There was so much tension in the lumber. Went to the band saw to finish ripping the pieces with the thought in mind that I'd rip 3/4 x 2+" strips to glue up yielding a better grain pattern that more closely matched the cabinet frame and veneer from which the cabinet box was built. Ended up with six banannas. Jointing and milling these pieces straight and true would have yielded a few bushels of expensive shavings and I'd still not be confident given my current abilities and experience in milling hardwood that I had a nice flat product that would stay that way.
That looks like pretty good reasons to avoid the solid wood.
I was thinking that, if you rabbetted the back of the frame so it fit over the mirror, couldn't you accommodate movement of the side boards, rather than having it but tightly to the edge of the mirror. Kind of like a frame and panel situation. However, that doesn't solve the issue of problem wood. so I think you have made a good choice.
Steve -The design aesthetic, if you will, for the detailing on this place puts all surfaces where at all feasibly possible flush with the adjacent surface(s). The hardwood flooring base consists of one course of the floor material set flush with the drywall so there's no ledge to collect dust. Where the tile of the shower ends it also is flush with the adjacent drywall. So on and so forth.A bit fussy, just a design concept I've come up with. It's a really clean look and as you can imagine a lot more difficult to achieve than meets the eye, ... or ear as the case may be.Thanks for the reply .... as I mentioned this is something of an experiment. Some day I'll come to my senses.
Sounds very interesting. You are right, its a bit fussy, which is why you typically see reveals and so forth in ordinary work. I have seen those sort of flush fittings on no expense spared projects like art museums. I expect it will look impressive, in a subtle way--which is the best way. Good luck.
One issue to keep in mind is that veneer thicker than 1/16" reportedly will behave more like solid wood than like veneer, meaning that it will likely shrink enough to develop splits if humidity changes too much.
Don -I purposefully resawed the 'veneer' well over thickness with the intent of finishing it down to ~1/16. I realize this is probably a big waste of material and more work than necessary however I've not been able to find any cherry veneer in my area that sports a veneer face thicker than the pages of a cheap tabloid! (grin).And if truth were known, this is something of an experiment anyway. Some people, you know, have more time on their hands than common sense.
http://www.certainlywood.com
has a wide variety of veneers they can ship practically anywhere.
-Jazzdogg-
"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive." Gil Bailie
It's time to start with the sweet talk to your sweet. A vacuum press is the way to go. Use water resistent glue, preferably a urea like Unibond. Visit the forum at vacupress.com. Darryl has a great deal of experience.
You are wise to limit the thickness of the veneer especially over mdf. 3/32 inch is the absolute max. Thick veneer over plywood is safer, or at least you should crossband if over mdf. I had 1/8 inch veneer pull the mdf apart on a table. It was an expensive lesson. You must balance with the same thickness.
As mentioned prior, Certainly Woods is a great company. I have shipped from them and I bet I live farther away than you do.
If you decide to go with a vacuum system, I suggest you visit http://www.joewoodworker.com. He has plans to build a system (like mine) that is awesome.
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled