will my 1.8 3ply wood veneers curl?

[nick1982]

Hello!

Good morning, I'm new to the forum and looking for some advice, any help much appreciated, and thanks for your time and wisdom.

I'm looking to make some guitar scratch plates for fender stratocaster type guitars.

I want to make some pretty attractive wood veneer ones.

My plan is to build up a 1.8ml thickness scratch plate from 3x 0.6ml.

So my question is, once set will this curl? - I'm planning to have them professionally spray lacquered as well.

Another option is to bond the veneer to plastic - but I want to avoid that id possible because I really want a high quality Item. I want to use three veneers for thickness so I could get a stripe in the middle on the edge of the pick guard.

I'm planning to use quilted maple for the veneer - and another cheaper type of wood for the backing sheets.

to summarise:

Will the veneer curl if I make it out 3x0.6ml wood sheets... or should i use a sheet of ugly plastic in there... or is there a way of strengthening my veneer sandwich to prevent this from happening?

Many thanks,

Nick

 

[woodbrains]

Hello and welcome!

If you cross laminate the veneers and use a resin glue like cascamite, I think you'll be fine. Keep the glue spread as thin as you can, otherwise there will be bleed through, though maple is tight grained, so will suffer less than other wood types.

Mike.

 

[nick1982]

Thank you Mike for your reply.

Ok, that's reassuring, I'll give it a go and see what happens.

Do you have any recommendations as to what would to use underneath the top veneer? Something that might add to the strength and prevent curling, and is relatively cheap?

 

[Beau]

Another thing is to make sure they are all at same moisture content when laminating. Dont leave one face down and the others able to breath both sides prior to the glue up. Ideally leave over night as if they were in toast rack. Hope that makes sense.

 

[nick1982]

Thank you Beau. I will give that a go too. You mean make sure all sides have the same exposure to air before the glue process?

 

[Beau]

Thank you Beau. I will give that a go too. You mean make sure all sides have the same exposure to air before the glue process?

Yep much better put

It's just to make sure you have all the pieces at the same moisture content on both sides.

 

[profchris]

My first and only attempt at laminating 0.6mm veneers resulted in a crinkled mess, though I was using water based glue. For a high quality pickguard you need perfect flatness, so I think you'll need to make a press.

I'd be tempted to try liquid hide glue, moistening the outer surfaces with water to reduce curling, as bleed through of hide glue won't be such a problem for finishing. Hot hide was traditional for cabinet work, but for laminating you'd need to heat the press.

But you'll want to experiment, to find the best trade-off between cost, usability and finishing.

 

[custard]

Use regular Maple for the backing sheets. Plain Maple veneer's not expensive, so why not test before doing the real thing...I would. I'd also press between two sheets of thick MDF, use cling film or similar to prevent squeeze out gluing your cauls together.

One issue you'll have is the edges will show a pattern of long grain/end grain/long grain (or the reverse), and the end grain will appear much darker than the long grain. The way to minimise the contrast is to sand the edges to far finer grits than you'd normally use, go up to 1200 grit or finer. I'm in a rush or I'd explain the theory behind this, but I can assure you it works!

Good luck!

 

[woodbrains]

Thank you Beau. I will give that a go too. You mean make sure all sides have the same exposure to air before the glue process?

Yep much better put

It's just to make sure you have all the pieces at the same moisture content on both sides.

Hello,

And after the glue process. Once you take the glued up stack out if the press/clamping boards, make sure both sides are exposed to the air, or both sides are covered. i.e. kept between 2 boards, perhaps with sheets of paper to absorb some of the excess moisture from the glue.

Mike.