Does Lanoline Really Flatten Veneer

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I need to flatten some maple veneer. I have heard that lanolin will work to do this. What do you do with the lanolin, Spray it? wipe it? Any help would be great.

Garnet
 
Garnet,

Dunno about lanolin - the usual recipes call for glycerin. The simplest being glycerin mixed in a 10% solution with water.

More exotic formulae suggest adding glue and alcohol to the mix.

The purpose of the glycerin as I understand it, is to act as a wetting agent, holding the water in the veneer long enough to allow it to be plasticized enough to flatten when pressed with weights. Personally, I have not found it makes a huge difference compared to plain water. I wet the veneer pretty thoroughly using a spray or brush, then depending on how buckled it is, put it between sheets of newspaper and then between melamine faced chipboard. After a couple of hours, I check on it. If it is now flat enough for the next stage, I change the paper for dry and then weight the MFC or put it all in my vacuum press for a few hours, changing the paper once more before finishing.

If need be, I repeat stage one first.
 
Garnet Foster":3mtsxaye said:
I need to flatten some maple veneer. I have heard that lanolin will work to do this. What do you do with the lanolin, Spray it? wipe it? Any help would be great.

Garnet

I am surprised to see lanolin referred to for use with wood to be bonded.

I do not know anything about handling veneers, but I have had experience of lanolin in a bonding environment.

Lanolin and bonding agents in general do not mix. Even the use of lanolin hand/face creams in a workshop was enough to prevent correct surface adhesion.

Lanolin can become airborne if the conditions are right and leave a contamination on all surfaces.

Remember it's source, it is the waterproofer on sheeps wool.
 
You should be able to get the glycerin from the local chemist's - sold in bottles for medicinal purposes, IIRC...

Oh, and not to suggest anything ( :roll: ), but if you drop the concentrated stuff on the floor, it would probably leave a foul sticky mess... At that point, you might suddenly find a role for all that waste sawdust in your workshop: cover the mess with a big pile and leave it overnight - voila - mess removeable with dustpan/shopvac.
 
I have found that my local garage will take bags of sawdust, too. Soaks up oils spills a treat.
 

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