What veneer is, and why it is used
Veneer is real wood cut into thin sheets and glued to a substrate — plywood plies, MDF, particleboard or a solid frame. Purdue's publication on veneer manufacture describes why it is worth the effort: a small amount of a fine log is extended over a large area, and designs become possible that would be impossible, or very expensive, in solid wood. Face veneer covers wall paneling, furniture and cabinet panels, raised-panel doors formed over particleboard, wrapped mouldings and edge banding. On a hardwood plywood panel, the face veneer's species and quality are what the panel is graded and sold by.
How veneer is cut from the log
| Method | How it is cut | Figure |
|---|---|---|
| Rotary | The log is turned in a lathe against a knife and unrolled like a ribbon | Wild grain, especially in oak; used for construction plywood, crossbanding and some hardwood faces such as birch |
| Flat (plain) sliced | A half log, or flitch, moves against a knife from the outside toward the centre | A V- to U-shaped cathedral that gives way to straighter grain deeper in |
| Quartered | A quarter log sliced parallel to the rays | In oak, the rays show as large shiny flecks |
| Rift cut | The knife crosses the rays at about 45°, mostly on a half-round machine | Straight stripe with only the ends of the rays visible |
| Half round | A flitch turned 360° against a knife, off-centre | Between rotary and flat sliced; wider sheets from smaller logs |
From Purdue Extension FNR-240. Before slicing, flitches are heated in water to soften them; walnut is heated for long periods to even its colour.
Each sheet is kept in the order it came off the flitch, which is what makes matching possible: consecutive sheets can be laid side by side so the figure repeats or mirrors across a panel. Architectural paneling may be matched across an entire room; furniture and cabinet makers cut shorter pieces from between defects, and need uniform colour more than long, perfect cathedrals.
How thin it is — and sanding through
Purdue gives veneer thickness as generally 1/36 to 1/50 in, thinner than in the past as equipment improved, with diffuse-porous woods such as maple and cherry commonly cut at 1/42 in and ring-porous oak at 1/36 in — though each mill sets its own. Veneer is dried to 7–12% moisture content for the domestic market. At 1/42 in, a face is about 0.6 mm before it is glued and the panel is sanded: there is very little wood to remove.
- Sanding through shows the glue line or the ply beneath, and on a finished face it cannot be hidden. With so little wood to remove, use a fine grit, light pressure and a sander kept flat, and check the surface often.
- Core telegraphing. Columbia warns that a veneer-core panel's inner plies can show through thin faces, and recommends two-step or combination cores under high-end plain-sliced faces.
- Stain. A thin face takes stain like solid wood of the same species but cannot be sanded back to try again; test on an offcut of the same panel.
Figure, burls and dyed veneer
Some woods are prized as veneer precisely because their figure is too rare or unstable to use in solid form. Purdue's own example plaque combines rift-cut cherry, burl walnut, birdseye maple and black-dyed yellow-poplar. The Wood Handbook counts birdseye, wavy grain and burls among the figures that come from anomalous growth; Purdue notes that birdseye maple is sometimes rotary cut because the logs are small and rotary cutting widens the sheets. Dyed veneer is wood that has been coloured — Purdue's plaque uses dyed yellow-poplar for its black border — and Purdue also notes that rotary veneer is sometimes stained or printed to imitate a more expensive wood on promotional furniture — so read the description: 'real wood veneer' says the face is wood, not what colour it was grown.
Veneered furniture and cabinets trade differently from solid wood rather than worse: a veneered panel takes the stability of its substrate — the Wood Handbook credits plywood with excellent dimensional stability along its length and width — where a wide solid panel moves with the seasons. The thin face is the trade-off: it cannot be sanded and refinished as many times.
Veneering your own work
The outline of a veneering job
Choose a stable substrate
MDF or plywood, flat and smooth. Columbia rates MDF the most stable of the cores it compares, and the Wood Handbook credits plywood with excellent dimensional stability.
Choose the adhesive
Glue and pressing are covered in wood glue and adhesives compared in choosing a wood glue; follow the glue maker's open and press times.
Trim and edge
Trim flush once cured; cover the substrate's edge with banding or a solid-wood strip, as in working with plywood.
Finish lightly
Sand with a light hand and a fine grit, then finish as for solid wood of the same species.
Before sanding or finishing a veneered surface
- Face species and cut known
- Thin face allowed for: fine grit, light pressure, sander flat
- Edges approached last and lightly
- Stain tested on an offcut of the same panel
- Substrate flat, smooth and stable before veneering
- Repairs planned as patches, not deep sanding
Plywood construction and cores are in the plywood guide; grain and figure in solid wood in wood grain.
Sources
Cutting methods and thicknesses are those Purdue's publication describes for the US hardwood veneer industry; it notes that thickness is set by each mill and its customers. Veneer adhesives and pressing are covered on the glue pages, not here.
- 1.
Daniel L. Cassens. Manufacturing Fine Hardwood Face Veneers (FNR-240). Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service.
Used for: Rotary cutting (a log turned against a knife; wild grain in oak; used for construction plywood veneers, some hardwoods, crossbanding and core stock), flat slicing of flitches cut from halves or quarters (cathedral figure giving way to straighter grain toward the centre), quartered oak sliced parallel to the rays (ray fleck), rift-cut veneer with the knife crossing the rays at 45°, mostly on half-round machines; flitches heated before slicing; sheets kept in sequence for matching; thickness generally 1/36 to 1/50 in, maple and cherry commonly 1/42 and oak 1/36, set by each mill; drying to 7–12% moisture content for domestic use; burl walnut, birdseye maple and dyed yellow-poplar veneers; markets in architectural paneling, furniture and cabinets, wrapped mouldings and edge banding, and panels.
- 2.
Chapter 11: Wood-Based Composite Materials: Panel Products, Glued Laminated Timber, Structural Composite Lumber, and Wood–Nonwood Composites. USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory — Wood Handbook, FPL-GTR-282, 2021.
Used for: Hardwood and decorative plywood categorised by the species and characteristics of its face veneer; face and back veneers setting the panel grade; plywood's excellent dimensional stability along its length and width.
- 3.
Chapter 3: Structure and Function of Wood. USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory — Wood Handbook, FPL-GTR-282, 2021.
Used for: Figure from anomalous growth such as birdseye, wavy grain and burls.
- 4.
Hardwood Plywood Core Guide (as hosted by a distributor). Columbia Forest Products.
Used for: Thin face veneers and core telegraphing on veneer-core panels; two-step and combination cores recommended under high-end plain-sliced faces.
About this guide
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