Sawing veneer questions

Try...

Scott Burr in Ben Lomond,CA

>Carpet tape to hold down the sheets to your bench, then plane away. Be careful when pulling up the vener off the carpet tape. I use a puddy knife to pry it up, then just peel off the tape.

BTW, I think the blade should hit the thrust bearing when sawing but, I know nothin about Carter guides...

Re: Sawing veneer questions

Frank D. in Montreal

>Hi Steve,

Scott's right for the thrust bearing. I have Carter guides and I adjust mine so it just barely touches the blade; it spins just slightly when the saw is running (but not cutting). If the thrust bearing doesn't support the blade entirely, the blade will flex toward the rear during the cut, so when you stop a cut it will spring back a little toward the front and go over the line (not good).

For veneer I'm no expert but I just place the veneer on a flat piece of wood (your bench is OK if it doesn't have a slippery finish) and smooth it out with a block plane. I hold the piece with one hand and plane with the other. Works fine. I have a block plane set up for smoothing (with high-angle blade) which helps to avoid tearout.

HTH,

Frank

Re: Sawing veneer questions

Kelby

>A drum sander is an easy, but expensive, way to get your veneers perfect on both sides.

Re: Sawing veneer questions

ThomD

>You can also use a downdraft table, just a hollow box with some holes in it to hold the veneer for planing. The box needs to be stiff. The smallest shopvac will hold down the biggest workpiece you can imagine. You must have @ 4 x 1/4" holes in the hose or body of the box that provide cooling air to the SHop vac. Or just expose some of the hole in the top, as many as you can until the veneer lifts.

However, a simpler, better approach from a number of perspective is to just work with thicker veneer. While thin veneer isn't "bad" it has a bunch of problems that thicker veneers don't. There is a bunch of stuff on this in one of Krenov's books. If your veneers are 1/8-3/16", then the planing is easy.

Re: Sawing veneer questions

Warren in Lancaster, PA

>If the wood is so thin that it will buckle if planed against a stop, I clamp one end and plane away from the clamp- the wood is in tension. Then I turn the wood around to plane the other end. With veneer as thick as you are making you can smooth plane after it is glued. I use this technique for inlay strips as well.

Do you ever...

Ted Owen, Pittsburgh

>experience surface checking with veneers that thick?

Best, Ted

Re: Sawing veneer questions

danielfisherin@cs.com

>A couple of comments. Many stores and cabinet shops will do drum sanding on a piece work basis. You can call around in your area to find one.

It is also possible to run the veneer through a table top planer. What I have done is to use Scotch double-stick tape and tape the veneer to a backer board. Use very light passes. There is some risk of blowout, but the success rate is good. The Scotch tape holds well enough but does not hold as tightly as carpet tape, which can be troublesome when you take the veneer off. Scotch makes 2 types of tape - I think one is supposed to be removable and the other permanent. In any case, the one to use is the one that has the lesser amount of holding power.

Re: Sawing veneer questions

Mark Harrison -- in Sydney, Australia

>As others have suggested, I've used the carpet trick to stick the veneer down to some melamine backer board but I have a supplementary trick. I put two strands of waxed dental floss (the thick stuff) down the middle of the tape and that helps to unstick it again. This isn't an original idea on my part. I think I read it here from somebody else but I can't remember who it was.

I haven't tried it but I've heard of others putting thicker veneer slices through the planer on a backer board. I would go thicker. Veneer 1/8" or more is not uncommon in antiques.

Re: Sawing veneer questions

Frank D. in Montreal

>FWIW,

I've used thick veneer a several times ala Krenov and haven't had any problems yet (after 4 years).

Here's a humidor I made with thick veneer on cedar, and even with our totally dry winters and very humid si=ummers there's no checking (my experience is limited I admit).

Re: Sawing veneer questions

GolfSteve in Calgary

>Thanks for the idea of the vacuum table. Wouldn't be too hard to whip one of those up if the need arose.

Re: Sawing veneer questions

GolfSteve in Calgary

>Thanks for your comments. Next time I'll probably aim for thicker veneers so that hand-planing is more workable.

Cheers,

Steven