Pva for Iron on veneering

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It sort of depends on the area and width in my experience. I wouldn't use contact adhesive for a large area, I would consider it for an edge banding or narrower strip.

As to no success with glue film I have to ask how old the film was. The glue can break down over time or with incorrect storage

Its over ten years old so yes, that may be the problem. However its rolled up and in a dry shed. Of course I ordered 10 metres of the stuff. :oops:
With regard to contact adhesive I have used it on paper backed veneer and its fine. The trick is to use a gel contact adhesive which has no hard rubbery bits and use a veneer hammer to expel air pockets - just using a J roller is not good enough. There is a good video on Youtube from www.oakwood.veneer about this.
 
I've got to admit that most of the stuff I've used in repair or installation work has been paper backed, but also I'vecworked for a few places where were doing large areas of in situ reveneering and where film, heat guns and irons were the only possible approach. We didn't get many call backs about cracking with either film or contact adhesive. Obviously in volume work your materials will generally be fresh - it's the out of date or near date stuff which always brings problems IMHO
 
The use of white glue (true pva, not buff x linked etc) for veneering was apparently developed by Unibond in the 1960's. Bob Wearing wrote about it in one of his regular magazine columns some years ago. Bob died a few years back, but as a young man trained at Loughborough after the War, and spent many years teaching, and thus taught a lot of folk new to pva veneering. He suggests the veneer should be taped at the edges to prevent curling, both surfaces primed with pva diluted 1 part glue to 5 parts water - ensure cover, but do not over wet. Allow to dry overnight. The bonding solution is also diluted, 5 parts glue to 1 part water. It should never be diluted more than 3 parts glue to 1 water for bonding. Some experiment may be needed - the dilution is soleley to make brushing an even coat easier so it may need varying to suit the make of glue. The bonding coat should dry overnight. Next day denib with fine abrasive paper. place the veneer, and tape down with veneer tape / water gummed paper.
Iron on through brown paper (NO newsprint!, NO steam iron) If steam iron all that you can find, ensure it's dry! Bob suggests it's helpful to speed up cooling by pressing down with a cold iron (he used a cast iron antique).
Joints should be pre taped, and ironing is towards joins. Overheating can shrink the veneer. Bubbles require a little of the hot iron again.
As you can see, no water is introduced in the process, but both sides should be veneered to prevent warping.
 
Not a problem using standard white pva glue. I'll post up a pic of something i made 20 years back using this method.
I applied glue, allowed it to dry than placed the veneer against the dried glue, placed a bit of brown paper over that and using a standard domestic iron on warm setting, pressed the veneer on.
I used a roller to help press it as I moved around the area, so as not to warm it again and have the stuck on veneer come unstuck. I was using madrone veneer, which would probably be more flexible in all planes than something with a straight grain.

One thing I have noticed after x years is areas where the veneer joins on the flats. did start to lift/bubble a bit, but only there and probably more to do with the acid catalyst finish i believe. I veneered flat and convex surfaces. It worked better than I hoped and was easier than i though it would be.

ADDS- I didnt do anything crazy with it. It wasnt diluted or anything like that. Straight from the bottle- bog standard, allowed to become touch dry so about 10mins i think(Was a long time back), than straight on with the veneer and pressing technique. From start to finish probably well less than an hour to do each section, top/sides.

The above description from Ivan of Bob Wearing seems overly complex. This wasnt my experience of it.
 
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Don't use anything other than Pearl Glue. Nothing else comes close. You'll need a glue pot and you need to work reasonably fast. Glue stinks but if you f**k up just place the iron (or heat gun) back on and reposition the veneer. Also use a veneer hammer for removing bubbles if you get them. I've used this method for over 25 years and never had a problem.
 
When I was doing A level woodwork when PVA glue first came out, we tried it on veneer. No good. Can't beat Scotch Glue heated in the pot and any air bubbles squeezed out with veneering hammer. If there any bumps when cooled down, just run the iron over to re-melt the glue and squeeze out with veneering hammer. Can't do that with PVA.
 
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