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Wood Veneers: Factory Tour
From "Wood Works"
episode WWK-609 -- More Projects »

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Veneers -- thinly sliced layers of fine wood -- are used in 95 percent of all modern furniture-making. Veneering adds strength since the thin wood is glued to a plywood substrate and is less prone to warp, crack or be subject to wood movement than solid hardwood.
In this non-project episode of DIY Wood Works, host David Marks presents valuable tips and tricks that he's learned and employed with veneers as a master woodworker.

Veneering goes back to the time of the ancient Egyptians and was traditionally a craft only employed by royalty. It was highly regarded as an art form. The industrial revolution made veneering more mainstream and common, but today it is a viable technique for the advanced woodworker -- thanks in part to advances in adhesives and the vacuum press.

Using commercial veneers, it's now possible to use exotic, rare woods in projects that were, in the past, unavailable or too expensive. David reveals techniques on making veneers more flexible, durable, and repairing cracks and flaws. David also shares tips on how to cut and edge-glue veneers and the various methods of joining veneers to a substrate.



Veneer Factory Tour: Exotic Hardwoods and Veneers


David visits the showroom of Exotic Hardwoods & Veneers (figure A) in Oakland, California and talks with owner Bob Nichols. This company specializes in procuring some of the world's most beautiful woods (figure B).
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Figure A
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Figure B



Some of the offerings at Exotic Hardwoods and Veneers include birds-eye maple (figure C), MaCasser eboy (figure D), European sycamore, and aniegre . . .
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Figure C
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Figure D

. . . as well as eucalyptus (figure E) and some fantastic burls -- such as olive ash (figure F).
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Figure E
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Figure F

According to Bob Nichols, the quality of the veneer is a direct corollary to the quality of the logs used. Prime logs are selected and sent to a veneer mill where they are flitched, cut into veneers, packaged and dried. "Flitches" (figure G) are stacks of veneer leaves (figure H) cut from a single log and kept in sequence according to the slices for grain-matching purposes.
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Figure G
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Figure H

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Figure I
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Figure J
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Figure K


  • The cutting technique determines the final appearance of the veneers, and there are three main cutting techniques:

    • In rotary cutting the veneer is "peeled" off in a rotary fashion much like an apple would be peeled, starting from the exterior of the log and working concentrically inward (figure I). This technique results in wide leaf-widths.

    • In flat cutting, or plane-sliced cutting, the log is cut through and through in horizontal slices (figure J). This technique can result in visually distinctive and well-defined cathedral grains.

    • In quarter-sawn, or vertical-grain cutting, the log is first cut into quarters along the length, and each quarter is sliced individually to result in a vertical grain pattern (figure K).
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      Figure L
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      Figure M
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      Figure N
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      Veneers open up a world of exotic and highly figured woods that you can affordably incorporate into your woodworking projects. The eye-catching top of this occasional table was created using four book-matched walnut burl veneers.


    In addition to selling veneers, Bob's company also makes custom-veneered panels made to architects' and designers' specifications. Veneers are inspected and grouped in sequence, cut to length and width, stacked and passed through a plane router to make the edges perpendicular and smooth for edge-gluing. The veneers are then passed through a sophisticated splicing machine to create large sheets (figure L). The edges are then reinforced with a hand-held stitcher to prevent splaying or splitting.

    To make the make the veneered panels, MDF cores are passed through a glue-spreader, and the veneer faces are applied to both sides. The panels are then placed into a hot-press (figure M) for several minutes.

    The panel is then removed from the press, allowed to cool and then machine-sanded. The final step is some hand-sanding to make the panel ready for the customer. The result is a spectacular large-scale panel with distinctive and matched grain patterns (figure N).


    In the segment that follows, David offers tips on flattening and prepping burl veneer.


    RESOURCES :


    Woodworking Techniques: Best Methods for Building Furniture from Fine Woodworking
    Author: Editors of Fine Woodworking magazine
    Publisher: Taunton Press
    ISBN: 1561583456

    David Marks Website
    David Marks, DIY's Wood Works host, is a master woodworker. For more information on cut sizes and project details, please contact him via his Website at www.djmarks.com


    Woodworker's Guide to Wood: Softwoods, Hardwoods, Plywoods, Composite, Veneers
    Model: 080836878
    Author: Rick Peters
    (2000)
    Sterling Publishing Co. Inc.
    Website: www.sterlingpub.com

    Fine Woodworking
    A magazine devoted to high-quality craftsmanship in woodworking.
    The Taunton Press Inc.
    Website: www.taunton.com


    GUESTS :

    Bob Nichols
    Exotic Hardwoods & Veneers
    Oakland, CA
    Website: www.exotichardwoods.com

  • ALSO IN THIS EPISODE:
  		• Wood Veneers: Factory Tour
  		• Wood Veneers: Flattening and Cutting Techniques
    		•