Applying wood veneer to steel sheet

[Squibb]

So I came up with a 'radical' idea to turn my old and very dead iMac Computer into a magnetic note board. Having never used wood veneer before (I'm brand new to woodworking), I was slightly confused when it arrived as to how brittle and irregular the surface is, and how I could apply it without it breaking.

To give an idea on my plan, I have removed the LCD, computer parts and back/stand, so that I'm just left with the front frame and the glass (pictured). The plan is to cut and stick the veneer onto a thin steel sheet, which will in turn be placed on the inside surface of the glass - with the veneer facing outwards.

Can anyone give me some tips on how to cut, flatten and stick the veneer to a steel sheet? I'll update the post with pictures as it progresses as it either could turn out quite cool, or exceedingly bad.

 

[curtisrider]

The casing is aluminium, not steel however thats trivial! I would guess at an epoxy being your best bet however people who have tried something similar may have a better suggestion

 

[custard]

Even though I've done plenty of veneering I've never laid on anything other than traditional substrates. I have however worked in a workshop that has veneered onto aluminium, from memory they put quite a bit of effort into first flattening the veneer (google veneer flattening, all the methods are fairly similar and they all work) and they used epoxy to avoid introducing moisture into the equation. The squeeze out was horrible and the glue lines weren't beautiful, but it worked okay.

Cool project that you're undertaking by the way!

 

[Beau]

Epoxy like west system will work fine.

Usual process is abrade the metal surface before applying epoxy and again when wetted with it. This gets rid of the risk of oxidation effecting the bond. Had to bond some structural veneer to some steel on this job.

 

[Squibb]

Sorry, I haven't been clear. The idea is that a steel sheet, glued to a wood veneer, will be placed inside the glass with the veneer facing towards the glass. Then when it's finished, magnets will hold 'to-do' lists against the glass, but instead of seeing the steel you will see the veneer

 

[andersonec]

Contact adhesive would be the answer but there is a knack to applying it and I wouldn't try it unless shown how because once stuck it's stuck and it seems you have some delicate curves to cut.. Depending on what type of veneer you have you should be able to flatten it with judicial use of some sandpaper (240 grit) wrapped around a wood block.

Also contact adhesive is usually used with veneer that has a backing paper already applied (paper backed veneer)

I would also do it in sections edges first, then across the bottom, up the sides and then across the top.

There are a couple of video's here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08ivNhTmjjk

Andy

 

[xy mosian]

Strange I read the OP as a piece applied inside the glass panel. No curves or edges involved as far as I can see. Perhaps I am reading the post incorrectly?
xy

 

[RobinBHM]

The easiest way would be to buy real wood laminate and bond that on with contact adhesive. However Im not sure if you can buy part sheets, I dont suppose you would want to pay for a 1.2m x 3.0m sheet!

 

[swede54]

Does the veneer really need to be glued if it's sandwiched between the steel and the glass? You could use double sided tape or spray mount just to keep it from slipping.

 

[Squibb]

Interesting thoughts guys. Does anyone know the method of cutting ensuring no tearout or wood fibres - just a nice clean straight cut. The veneer I've got is zebrano and will need to be joined in the middle of the screen because, as you guessed Robin, it's not quite wide enough to stretch across the whole screen

 

[Woodmonkey]

Put the veneer on a piece of mdf or similar and clamp a piece of 18mm mdf s long your cut line, then cut down the edge with a sharp Stanley knife or scalpel. Use several light cuts rather than one heavy. If you cut your two pieces together you will get a nice joint.

 

[custard]

You really need a very fine scalpel rather than a thicker stanley knife, the thicker the knife the more the cut line has a bruised bevel edge which can work against you, unless that is you're using sopping wet Scotch glue which causes the edges to swell up and removes the bevel.

It's perfectly possible to plane veneer edges. I touched on the method in this thread, when planing veneer you only have less than 0.5mm protruding out from the MDF sandwich which captures the leaves. For jointing thicker saw cut veneers this the best way, but it also works for 0.6mm thick commercial veneers.

making-a-wooden-straight-edge-t102376.html

You can also use a veneer saw run along a straight edge, but to get the best results you need to stone the teeth to a point, which would be a bit of a faff for a one off job.

 

[ED65]

I see nobody has brought this up so I'll mention it, something you may need to check is the ability of the magnets you propose to use to stick to the steel through the glass and the wood. Even without needing to hold the weight of a sheet of paper you might find the magnets struggling.

Most fridge magnets and similar have weak magnets, which just about hold on through something like powdercoat. I'm betting you'll need to modify existing magnets by installing a rare-earth magnet (or more than one), or make your own using the same.

 

[worn thumbs]

I have veneered four inch aluminium tube using contact glue and a veneer hammer to persuade the veneer to stick.I can't see why it wouldn't work on sheet.

 

[xy mosian]

A long time ago, on this forum, there was discussion about forming cross grain moldings with hand scrapers. This almost guarantees tearing of the grain of course. The answer was to use shellac sealer as a 'glue' to hold the fibres. I have done this, and it works well. Using a scraper removes the shellac of course which would not happen in your case with a knife cut. Still it may be worth considering as a sanding during subsequent finishing would remove the shellac finish.
HTH xy

 

[Squibb]

Awesome - thanks guys. I'll pop the project in the other forum when it's finished.

cheers!