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Marc: Welcome to episode 16 of the Wood Whisperer
video podcast.
I'm your host, Marc Spagnuolo, and on today's show
we're going to learn how to cut our own veneer.
Now, you might be wondering why we'd want to go
through all the trouble of cutting our own veneer
when veneer is commercially available.
Well, for me, the most important reason is this.
Here I've got a sheet of commercial veneer.
It's about 1/42 of an inch thick.
And this is a sheet of home sawn veneer
and it's about 3/32 of an inch thick.
Now because of this extra thickness, the material's
much easier to work with and we don't run the risk
of sanding through like we would with
a paper thin veneer.
Also, the furniture that we make with this
will be much more durable and it'll have the look
of solid wood.
Now, if there's a downside to home sawn veneers,
it would probably be the fact that they're limited
to the solid stock that you have on hand.
So if you're looking for an exotic, highly
figured wood, you're probably going to have
more luck buying a bundle of commercial veneer
than trying to hunt down the perfect piece
of solid wood and slicing the veneer yourself.
Now whether you use commercial or home
sawn veneers, it's very important that we learn how
to work with this material for a number of reasons.
Designs that would be impossible with solid wood
are made possible with veneered sheet goods.
And using veneer is more economical since
a single one inch board can yield over 40 pieces
of commercial veneer and about six to eight
pieces of home sawn veneer.
And even rare pieces of figured lumber
can be sliced into hundreds of sheets of veneer,
which makes it possible for all of us
to access the material.
Now, thank to mass produced and cheaply made
particle board furniture, veneer and plywood
are four letter words to many furniture lovers.
It's our responsibility as craftsmen to
educate our friends, family, and customers
so that they understand the value of veneered
sheet goods.
After all, the best craftsmen in the world
are using veneer in their work and veneer
is no longer synonymous with poor quality.
Now, in order to cut veneer, you're going
to need a bandsaw.
Cutting veneer's very strenuous work for a bandsaw,
so the more power the better.
I'd recommend at least one horsepower.
A properly tuned, 14 inch, one horsepower
bandsaw should be able to handle cutting veneer.
Just take your time and don't try to push it too hard.
But first thing's first.
We need to make sure our bandsaw is tuned up
and ready for the demands we're about
to place on it.
Now, for more information on tuning up
your bandsaw, check out the Wood Whisperer
episode 13, bandsaw set up and tuneup.
The next thing we need is a good, solid
resaw fence.
Now, there are two types of fences that you can use
for resawing veneer.
The first is a single point, pivot style fence
where the wood rests against a single point,
allowing you to easily change direction
as you push the wood forward.
And second is a simple solid fence, kind of
like what I have back here.
Where the fence is set to the drift angle
and the work piece is supported by the fence
all the way through the cut.
I prefer to use the solid fence style
simply because once it's set, you could saw
veneer all day and all you have to do
is push the wood through.
This means less eye strain, less stress,
and fewer headaches.
Now, the fences that come with bandsaws
usually aren't adequate for resawing veneer.
So you need to either reinforce the existing fence,
which can be as simple as a piece of plywood
double stick taped to the existing fence,
or you could build an entire new one.
Either one that slips over the existing fence
and secures in place or one that's
completely standalone.
Now, I think it's best to build one that's
a complete standalone fence primarily because
it's easier to build and also because we'll
be able to use it on other saws in the future.
So let me show you how to build one.
The resaw fence will be a simple structure
made from 3/4 birch ply.
It'll consist of a 24 inch by five inch bottom piece,
a 24 inch by seven inch front face,
and five five inch by five inch square supports.
I start be determining the spacing of the supports.
This doesn't have to be exact.
I just need to leave some room on both ends
for clamping.
I add a little glue to the edge of one of the supports.
Then I position it against the bottom board,
and brad nail it into place.
It's critical that one side of this joint
be perfectly flush.
This is the side that the face of the fence
will be attached to.
I attach the remaining supports in the same manner.
I turn the piece over 90 degrees and
pre-drill for screws.
Two screws per brace should add the extra support
that I'm looking for.
I like to give the screw holes a quick sanding
just to remove any torn out wood.
And finally I attach the face of the fence
with glue and brads.
I also add a few screws for extra reinforcement.
A little sanding on the fence face, and our
fence is done.
Now we're just about ready to make
our first test cut.
But first I'd like to discuss blade selection.
Now, there's a number of opinions out there
about which blade is best for cutting veneer.
And the variety of blades on the market
is just overwhelming.
Now, for our purposes, just about any blade
will get the job done.
Some blades will cut smoother, some will
cut faster, but they will all cut.
And to prove that, I'm just using the blade
that came with my saw.
It's a 3/4 inch three tooth per inch blade.
Really nothing special.
Now, if I get a decent cut with this blade,
imagine what I can do with a premium blade.
A premium blade can produce a surface that is
so smooth that it's ready for glue and requires
absolutely no sanding.
So here's a few general blade recommendations.
For boards that are four to five inches wide,
use a half inch or 3/4 inch blade with
four to six teeth per inch, with the least
amount of set possible.
Set being how much the teeth flare out
on both sides which, ultimately, affects
the width of the cut.
For wider boards, you want to use something
that's a little faster cutting, so I recommend
a 1/2 inch or 3/4 inch blade with three
teeth per inch.
Now it's time to set our fence in place.
I set the fence about an 1/8 of an inch
away from the blade.
And then use my stock fence which should
already be set for the drift as a guide
for the resaw fence.
If the resaw fence is tight against the stock fence,
then I know I'm in perfect alignment.
I then secure the fence at one end with a clamp,
I recheck the measurement, and then I clamp
the other side.
Now's a good time to take the final measurements
at the bottom of the fence and the top of the fence
just to ensure that they're exactly the same.
If they're not, make the appropriate adjustments
to the bandsaw table.
If the jig was built properly, the fence
should be exactly 90 degrees to the table.
The blade should also be 90 degrees to the table.
If your resaw fence isn't perfectly perpendicular
with the top, it's not the end of the world.
Just make sure the fence is perfectly
parallel with the blade.
Now in order to ensure even pressure
against the fence, I'm going to use
a homemade feather board stack.
Now, I just took four regular homemade
feather boards, screwed them all together,
and now I've got a tall feather board that
applies pressure over the entire face of the board.
Now, here is our test board which I just surfaced
on three sides.
I jointed one face and then one edge.
Then I took it to the table saw and ripped
the other edge so that I have a nice
parallel board.
Now, I marked one of the edges with a triangle
and that's going to help me keep all the sheets
of veneer in order.
I'll feed the board through with the jointed
face up against the fence.
So let's get this party started and make
our first test cut.
Using my work piece as a spacer, I clamp
the feather board stack into place.
I don't want to apply too much pressure,
just enough to keep the board securely
against the fence.
I usually center my feather board right in the middle
of the blade.
With the jointed face against the fence,
it's time to make our first cut.
With a set up like this, there's not a whole lot
that you can do wrong.
Push with a moderate amount of speed and pressure.
Key your eye on the blade itself, and make sure
everything is tracking properly.
Now toward the end of the cut, I like to use my
right hand to pull the piece through the cut
while carefully pushing with the left side
using a long push stick.
Now let's take a look at our cut.
That's not too shabby for a stock blade.
Now it's a good idea at this point to look
at the slice from all different angles
and make sure everything looks okay, looks consistent.
If we've got a wedge shape then we know
that the angle of the table is a little bit off.
If the sheet gets a little bit thinner
at one end then the other, then we know
that the fence actually isn't properly set up
for the drift and we would need to repeat
that part of the tuneup.
But in most cases, you should end up with
a reasonably nice piece of home sawn veneer.
Now, let's take a look at the original stock piece.
Again, if we've got a rough surface here,
of course we're going to have a rough surface
on the stock piece.
So typically what I do is run this, maybe one
or two passes at the most, over the jointer
just to clean up that face and get ready
for our second cut.
Now if the cut faces of your veneer are
relatively smooth, you can usually just glue
that side directly down to your substrate,
giving you a nice smooth surface on the top.
But if the surface is a little bit rough
like mine is, you'll want to do a little
sanding before the glue up.
And I allowed for that extra bit of sanding
when I set my fence to 1/8 of an inch.
Now the best tool for this job is the drum sander.
If you don't have one, you should try
to find a friend that does.
And if that's not feasible, then I recommend
investing in a premium quality blade so that
you get the cleanest cut possible.
Personally I like cutting my veneer sheets
just a little bit thick at 1/8 of an inch,
and then sanding down to exactly 3/32 of an inch.
It takes a little bit longer but I tend to get
more consistent results that way.
Once we have all of our veneer cut and sanded,
we need to think about the layout.
Now, most cases, you'll need to join
multiple sheets together in order to get
the width that we're after.
Now, you remember that triangle that we drew
on the edge earlier?
When we reassemble our pieces, we should be able
to use that triangle as a reference guide
for the order.
Now it's very important for design reasons
to keep these sheets in order.
Since each sheet has nearly identical grain patterns,
we can come up with some pretty cool designs
depending on which way we face our sheets
when joining them.
Let's cover the two most common arrangements.
The first pattern is called a book match.
You simply turn one sheet over
like a page in a book and glue the two
pieces together.
The resulting pattern is what looks like
a mirror image.
The second pattern is called a slip match.
None of the pieces get flipped, they're just
placed side by side.
This is a good pattern for really wide panels.
Once we have the pattern we're looking for,
all we need to do is glue these guys together
to make them into one solid sheet.
It's actually easier than it looks.
All you need is a little bit of blue tape.
Using a lot of finger pressure, I stretch the tape
across the joint and press it down firmly
on the show side of the veneer.
I usually place a piece of tape every six
to eight inches.
Then I run a single strip of tape across
the length of the joint.
Now I flip the board over and make a little
V shaped tent.
This opens up the joint, giving me a nice
channel for a bead of glue.
And then flatten the board, wipe away
the squeeze out, and place another piece
of tape along the length of the joint.
I also like to use a wooden seam roller
to make sure that the joint is nice and flat.
Now if you happen to notice a gap along
the joint line, have no fear.
A gentle pass or two over the jointer
will solve the problem.
And believe it or not, that's all there is
to cutting your own veneer.
You may run into a few snags here and there
but if your bandsaw's set up properly
and your wood is flat and square, the resawing
process should go quite smoothly.
Just a quick tip.
Be sure to wax the bandsaw table and the
fence thoroughly.
That'll make your life a whole lot easier
as you push the wood through the blade.
So the next step would be to glue
this veneer sheet to a substrate.
But that's a topic for another show.
Now personally, I think veneering is a technique
that we should all learn.
Whether you use commercial or home sawn veneer,
your design options expand dramatically when you
begin to incorporate veneer into your work.
It's a great way to get the most out of your tools,
your wood supply, and your craft.
Now just a few quick updates for you.
Don't forget to check out Wood Talk Online
at woodtalkonline.com.
We just added a voicemail feature where you can
leave us voicemails over the internet
just using your computer microphone.
It's really cool.
And if you haven't been to the Wood Whisperer
site in a while, you might have missed the new
streaming video web cam and the chat room.
Both are worth checking out and I believe
I've got about 10 people watching me right now.
(using high pitched voice) Hi guys!
Now lastly, don't forget to check out
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Not only can you find great woodworking equipment
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Thanks everybody.
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