Bandsaw cut Veneers - Follow up question

[noddy67]

I'd be interested in peoples workflow with regards to cutting a number of slices of veneer from multiple boards.

My assumption is one squares up all four sides of the boards, places one smooth face against the fence to make the first cut and then runs the board that now has one band sawn face through the thicknesser to resmooth (a word?) that face and then repeats the process until the board is all sawn into veneers.

My question is in order to use the veneer in a book match arrangement for example one is going to have to smooth off the rough surface of one (or both) of the veneers or are people getting a surface straight from their band saw that is smooth enough to glue to the mdc substrate. How do you swooth the rough side of the veneer if necessary? I realise that I can glue he planed side of the veneers to the substrate but that limits layout options.

I suppose I'm asking what are peoples specific (and hopefully efficient) work flow from solid board to glued up veneered panel.

Hope thats reasonably clear.

Thanks

 

[Beau]

Can't give you a set answer to that.

All depends how stable the stock is. Only know this after the first cut. All things being well it can work as you say and then I lightly plane or scrape off the worst of the bandsaw marks before gluing. Sometime there is stress in the stock so the veneers cup as they come off the bandsaw. If this is the case the stock will also have cup'd so needs planing not thicknessing. You can if desperate thickness the veneer by using double sided tape to hold it to a flat plank to feed it through the thicknesser. Double sided tape is also good for lightly hand planing the veneer. If the wood misbehaves cutting your own veneer can be pretty wasteful.

 

[custard]

Because the scotch glue approach calls for roughing the surface of the ground and veneer with a toothing plane, some people have carried this over to veneering with modern adhesives on modern substrates. In my view this is a mistake. A small mistake with UF glue and a big mistake with PVA, because even with quite thick saw cut veneers you run the risk of the roughness telegraphing through. Another reason for cleaning up the sawn surface is to ensure consistent thickness, which you won't get from a non-industrial bandsaw.

Consequently I pass both faces of my saw cut veneers through a drum sander at about 120 or 180 grit and bring them down to about 1.5-1.8mm. You might just get away with using a planer/thicknesser, but you'll benefit from rubber rollers, a compliant wood, and a bit of luck!

One thing you missed from your preparation list was tweaking your bandsaw. New blade if it's at all dull, checking fence squareness, checking drift, adding a taller auxiliary fence. This is the toughest challenge your bandsaw will face so give it every chance to succeed.

It's worth persevering even if it doesn't all come good on the first attempt, because adding saw cut veneering to your woodworking armoury opens an awful lot of doors. Good luck!

 

[Droogs]

+1 for Beau.
I basically work with hand tools, so my veneer is on the whole sawn by hand and then planed first to flat and even thickness and then given a go with the toothing plane. When I do cut with my bandsaw, which is just a baby scheppach I make sure I use the tallest sub-fence I can and take it very slowly, but only after checking everything out on some scrap first until I'm happy. When happy with that then I run the good stuff through. But after that it's back to the hand tools for the rest of the prep. Hope this helps