Veneered Tabletop question

[Doug Mason]

I was looking at some plans in an old FWW rag and saw some plans for a semielliptical table.For the tabletop, 3/4 thick an 19 inches wide, the plan calls for a quilted mahogany veneer on a mahogany substrate and a mahogany veneer on the bottom. After the veneering of the top is complete, the author uses an ellipse jig w/a router to cut the half ellipse.

So here is my question: After using the router jig to cut the top, the author rounds it over with 1/2 roundover bit--leaving a 1/16 deep fillet on the top. But this fillet would leave the edge of the veneer exposed on the top--and subject to tearout over the years. Would you do this?

[Jamie Buxton]

No, I wouldn't. I almost never leave a veneer edge unprotected like that.

[Howard Acheson]

After using the router jig to cut the top, the author rounds it over with 1/2 roundover bit--leaving a 1/16 deep fillet on the top. But this fillet would leave the edge of the veneer exposed on the top--and subject to tearout over the years.

That is a very common technique used before good plywood became reasonable and readily avaibable. Lesser quality woods of the same species as the veneer were a good way to produce a high quality appearance. If the veneer was attached well, and the item was not abused, the veneer should not separate from the substrate.

Done correctly and carefully, it is not apparent that the panel is veneered. The decorative maching hides the adhesive seam.

[Chris Padilla]

I think with a good quality glue and a vacuum bag, the veneer should be well adhered and likely be okay. I'm more or less doing this on my Tansu project. I guess you can ask me how the edges are doing in 5 years.

[Barry Vabeach]

I can't say which will last longer, but I did use a similar approach. I used plywood for a desk top, then banded it in solid mahogany about 1 inch wide, planed the banding so that it was even with the top of the mahogany, then applied a veneer over the whole assembly, then put a small fillet then a roundover below that into the banding. It looks great even though I have had it in my office in use for a couple of years. The main appeal to this approach, rather than banding after veneering, is that along the long grain sides, it is nearly impossible to tell that it isn't solid mahogany - even though the veneer and the solid stock take stain slightly differently, the fillet and the roundover are in different planes then the table top so the difference in appearance is expected. If you banded after the veneer, it is easier to see the line where the banding meets the veneer - since they are in the same plane, and it is especially obvious where the banding is perpendicular to the grain of the veneer at the end of each side of the table.

[Frank Drew]

Doug,

As others have noted, this is a reasonably sound design feature considering today's glues and veneering methods. And with a curved top, what choice do you have, really?

[Jamie Buxton]

Doug,

As others have noted, this is a reasonably sound design feature considering today's glues and veneering methods. And with a curved top, what choice do you have, really?

Solid-lumber edgebanding works on curves. It is more work than straight, but it does work.

[Steve Jenkins]

this is a crotch mahogany table that I made some years ago. The edge is veneered as well as the top and it is holding up just fine. Even the 2 leaves that are used then removed for storage.