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Veneering - I could do with some advice.

Peri

Peri

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Ok, time for another first, I'm veneering some speaker cabinets.

As it's my first time using veneer I'm not trying complicated, just fairly large, flat areas.

I'm thinking of using the method this guy uses -

In a nutshell he coats the veneer and the cabinet with PVA, allows it to become touch dry, then uses a hot iron to...... activate (?) the glue.

It looks really simple - but I have a niggling suspicion it's too good to be true.

Anyone have any thoughts on the process?

Cheers.
 
I've just received several sheets of white oak veneer (as flat as cereal box cardboard), and a rosewood veneer which is very ridged, but I know from a test piece that I glued to a bit of scrap, that it'll sand very flat.
 
Not done a great lot of veneering, it sounds a great deal how you would use contact adhesive, plus it’s a bit like what I do with with PVA when using it on end grain, I put the PVA on and when it’s soaked into the end grain I put more on and cramp, but without the heat - can’t see what the heat will do except hasten the curing. I do know that the veneer will curl up though when the glue dampens it.
I wonder if the sheets of iron-on glue are still around?
 
A warm iron does soften and reactivate poly vinyl acetate - which is just plastic polymer really. The snag with it is unless you are super careful it is easy to bubble the veneer. You do really need good quality pretty flat veneer to start with. Too much heat and you risk glue showing through the veneer.

The method works fine. I've used it to veneer the back of a badly damaged acoustic guitar body, using Brazilian rosewood veneer. Some years ago. You would never know it was repaired.
 
It’s a well known technique for veneering speaker cabinets etc.

I haven’t done it myself but have seen the results on various forums and it looks like it works well.

The New Yorkshire Workshop uses the technique so it can’t be a bad way of working.

Pete
 
The veneers I'm using are paper backed, would it be advantageous to use Titebond veneer glue? From what I've read that appears to be pva with inhibitors to stop bleed through, and I think it dries a slightly harder than normal pva..

I'd also like to wrap the veneer around some of the case edges (going with the grain) - the bend test seems easy enough on a small test piece glued to scrap.... not so sure about the full size job :)

(The test pieces were clamped or taped - I need to pick up a cheap iron to test the heat method, for some reason my wife is reluctant to lend me hers for use in the shed).
 

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Thanks Pete - I was watching his turntable video about 10 minutes ago :)
 
This might help with bending/curling.


F5AB054D-C2DE-4DC7-A708-82BCACBF0AC4.jpeg



AF3D5F58-98B6-4871-B4ED-D5BA0B2D3617.jpeg

However, my experience has been that highly coloured timbers, like my Padauk, can leech the colours onto everything. All my fingertips were bright red after I used it.
 
Pete Maddex said:
It’s a well known technique for veneering speaker cabinets etc.

I haven’t done it myself but have seen the results on various forums and it looks like it works well.

The New Yorkshire Workshop uses the technique so it can’t be a bad way of working.

Pete
Click to expand...
Agreed, the technique is often used on stuff like speaker cabinets that have already been made. It's supposed to work well but I've never tried it; my guess is that whatever veneer is used, it would need to be very 'tame' and not misbehave or you're likely to be on a hiding to nothing trying to lay the stuff - Rob (who's done a lot of veneering, but not like this)

Edit - Malc, you can use glycerine to unwarp bendy veneers
 
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On commercial veneering of 9' X 6' boards:

Sheet of veneer on bottom platen.
Board fed through rollers applying PVA glue to both sides.
Board then drops onto bottom platen holding the veneer.
Top sheet of veneer fed onto top of board.
Top platen closes.
Heat and pressure binds the veneer-board-veneer.
Finished board ejected into 'cooling' wheel and then fed through a sander, edges trimmed and placed on a stack.

The completed job card will have the board production number, veneer pallet number in case of any quality issues.
 
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