Making your own veneer?

[Anonymous]

I cut som veneer on my bandsaw yesterday for the first time. Mahogany it was.

I cut it about 1.5-2mm thick on the saw and then passed it through my thicknesser on top of a piece of 3/4" ply. watedit very thin

Took it down to 0.5mm ready for inlaying and was chuffed to bits. However, I had one of 'those' moments and didn't check for grain direction on the last piece

What came out of the thicknesser resembled an old sheet that had spent 5 years in a cupboard ful of moths

Moral: check grain direction first and you'll get good veneer at very low cost. Don't, and you'll have some nice and thin firewood :roll:

 

[Gill]

O.5mm thick veneer :shock: !!!

Why on earth did you want veneer that thin? I hope you weren't planning to sand the finished piece; you could easily end up seeing through the veneer to the glue holding it in place, after it had been sanded :? .

Or am I missing something?

Gill

 

[Anonymous]

O.5mm thick veneer :shock: !!!

Why on earth did you want veneer that thin? I hope you weren't planning to sand the finished piece; you could easily end up seeing through the veneer to the glue holding it in place, after it had been sanded :? .

Or am I missing something?

Gill

This stuff was made as a late addition to my houndstooth box. I laid it between the base of the rebate in the sides and the top of the box. Needed to be that thin to avoid raising the lid any further above the box sides - I like it sitting a little proud of the sides

I am curious Gill, what thickness is the commercial (and home cut?) veneer you use?

 

[Gill]

Hi Tony

Most commercially available veneers are about 0.8mm thick, but I was talking to a marquetarian the other day who recalled that not so long ago they were 1.2mm. I don't know what sort of timescale he was referring to, though; you know how it is with some of these old timers .

I haven't used any home cut veneers; indeed, I haven't made any - yet! When my Kity 419 arrives I'll have a bash at producing some . The veneer cut at Woodex was comparable with the thickness of commercially cut veneers that I have, so I'm guessing that I'll also be producing stuff about 0.8mm thick.

Gill

 

[Chris Knight]

I bought flame mahogany veneer a week ago from Crispins that was 1.5 mm thick - approximating the good ol' days of sawn veneer. Standard commercial veneer is usually .6 or .8 mm and the stuff I bought was indeed specified as thick (it's more expensive too!)

When I cut my own I never go below one mm and it's usually closer to a sixteenth or an eighth of an inch thick. I have had eighth inch thick veneer in a cross-grained situation (oak on oak) for nearly ten years with no apparent problems.

 

[AndyBoyd]

I cut veneer to 3 or 4 mm, then plane it back to 2mm. I veneer both sides with this thickness to stop any cupping.

Most machine cut veneer i buy here is 0.5mm or less