shop cut veneer - eastern hard maple - what issues?

[Ronald Kot]

Hi,

Are there stability or other issues with hard eastern maple, more so than white oak?

I have done one project where I bandsaw cut WHITE OAK veneer, and that went very well. Veneer was cut in 1/8", strips, strips were edge glued to make up assembled veneer panels for both sides of the baltic birch substrate, glue then applied and cold pressed. All the flitches behaved themselves....stable....in the veneer assembly step.

But what about EASTERN HARD MAPLE? Are there warping, twisting or other problems after sawing off the veneer that comes from anything, such as release of wood tension?

I would resaw 1" x 4 to 6" maple boards, selected first for straight grain as much as possible, as I am looking for a 1/4 sawn, edge grain look on the cut veneer.

If you have used your bandsaw to produce maple veneer, how did it go?
Did you have warping or twisting issues with putting the individual strips (flitches i think?) together before gluing?
Did you edge glue first or just tape?

Thanks, RK

[David Kumm]

I don't think 4-6" boards should create any problems regardless of species unless not dry. The wider you go the more you can get cupping depending on the glue used. Seems like everything I read says to edge glue first but that has never worked well for me. I glue one side and stretch blue or green tape across the boards while placed on the substrate and then tape the whole thing to keep it in place when I put it into the vacuum bag. You can make a vacuum system fairly cheaply and I would recommend that. Opens up lots of possibilities. Dave

[Van Huskey]

Thick 1/8" in narrow widths like that will likely not show any issues.

[Gary Curtis]

My two kitchens have hard maple cabinets. 1st built in 1995, the new one in 2006. Both got a light honey colored stain. The first was finished with old style lacquer. On the second kitchen build, 10 years later, the cabinet shop couldn't get the stain/finish to penetrate and adhere. Made by Minwax. I was getting daily phone calls about their frustration. Maple is difficult to finish. Give me those old polluting finishes and solvents.

The first kitchen is 18 years old. All flat panel doors. Rails and stiles are solid maple along with fluted moldings, shelves and such. No signs of splitting, movement or mechanical problems. The stainless steel knobs, are another story, always coming loose, stripped threads, etc.

[Mike Henderson]

Commercial maple veneer is pretty cheap and you can buy it in many ways - face cut, quarter sawn, fiddleback figure, birdseye, etc. Personally, I'd buy the veneer rather than trying to saw my own. Since you lose so much in sawing your own veneer, the commercial veneer may wind up cheaper, even excluding the cost of your time and the wear on your bandsaw blade and sanding drum.

Mike

[Carl Beckett]

I have done a number of projects with Eastern hard maple (bookcases, cabinets, chairs, tables, boxes, etc etc). I dont know the species exactly, but the stuff is dense, heavy, and HARD.

So the biggest difference in my experience has been things like tool wear, cut rate, tracking. When planing it can chip easily (tearout) if not careful. Oh - did I mention tool wear??

And then as noted - it doesnt absorb stain and finish if this is a problem (sometimes it is preferred this way).

Once its built though, it feels pretty indestructible. And I like the look so just keep coming back for more...

[Phil Thien]

Commercial maple veneer is pretty cheap and you can buy it in many ways - face cut, quarter sawn, fiddleback figure, birdseye, etc. Personally, I'd buy the veneer rather than trying to saw my own. Since you lose so much in sawing your own veneer, the commercial veneer may wind up cheaper, even excluding the cost of your time and the wear on your bandsaw blade and sanding drum.

Mike

+1.

For whatever reason, maple has been problematic for me to resaw. Almost every board has cupped quite a bit when I'm slicing it up. Which required trips to the jointer to get it flat again. Which, as Mike points out, hurts the yield.

[Ronald Kot]

Thanks Phil,
Thanks for the warning from your resaw experience - maple may cup. Almost every board! I had no such problems resawing white oak. I wonder if one picked the grain carefully in the first place if cupping might be minimized. I think I will have to experiment and see.

I am considering a make it yourself veneer approach because the super thin veneers on modern plywood sheets are see through thin.....some durability is desired.
In my white oak veneer project, i thought the yeild/board was very good, but it was a small project. This current maple project is large....so if there is cupping on nearly every board yes, the yeild hit would become a big issue, not to mention the biggest to me is that flitches would be hard to work with.


Cheers, RK
do not find yeild low from a board to be low re # of slices/board

[Mike Henderson]

Commercial veneer is 1/42" (standard all wood veneer, that is). That is not to be confused with paper backed veneer or veneer on plywood sheets - those are both extremely thin wood. You can even find 1/25" veneer, but it's not as readily available and not in all the types and species. There's little advantage in making the veneer thicker than it has to be.

Mike