today I was out in the shop trying to edge some rails and stiles with birdseye maple veneer. after getting some hide glue prepared I was all set to go. my first disappointment was that the aluminum blade on my veneer hammer, despite being polished to a mirror shine, left some really ugly black stains on the veneer. my second and biggest disappointment was that the veneer wasn’t holding along the edges of the plywood, only in the center 1/2″ of the 3/4″ piece of plywood. I think it might be that the veneer wasn’t holding along the endgrain in the plywood. I used an iron to reactivate the glue and tried hammering down the trouble spots again, and only some of the veneer stuck this time. I know that the glue wasn’t destroyed because I kept the glue at a steady 140. and it seemed to be at the right consistency (came off the brush in a steady stream). what did I do wrong and what can I do to make this work in the future? thanks in advance
andrew
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I hammer veneer just about all my veneer work, and it can at first be a little troubling, but once you master it ( and this won't take long) , even seemingly difficult veneer work becomes easy. I can’t help you with the blade problem. I made the blade of my veneer hammer from UHMW plastic, it glides easily and nothing will stick to it. The problem with the veneer not sticking is from 2 causes. First you should dampen the face side, this way when the glue is absorbed into the veneer it won’t want to curl up, because the moisture is equalized. Second, you should apply a thinned down coat of hide glue to the edge the day before you apply the face veneer, this will prevent the glue from being sucked into the thirsty edge of the plywood. Another thing, is that in time the laminations of the plywood may show through the veneer, so I always apply two layers, with the first one being at right angles to what will be the face veneer. This is not necessary if you are using 1/16" veneer
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Change that aluminum blade to brass or something else. Aluminum leaves black marks on wood.
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