Bending Veneer for Waterfall Front Dresser

[Steve Ogletree]

Hello,

This is one of my first post even though I've been on the board here for several years. I've done woodworking as a hobby for the last 30 years or so. I haven't been as active as I'd like to be but finally am getting around to putting my shop to good use. That is where this question comes from:

LOML found a dresser that reminded her of one that was in her house growing up, the price was right, so she purchased with the intent of having me refinish it, which is going well with one exception. The top comes complete with a waterfall front edge, but the veneer that was there was damaged beyond repair so it needs to be replaced. Sounds simple enough but I'm stumped as to how to get the veneer to bend over that edge?

I've searched the forums here and also Joe Woodworker's site but am unable to find any help. I tried a Google search, but no real help. Surely I'm not the only one trying to re-veneer one of these am I?

Would a steam generator work for bending the raw wood veneer (lacewood) or is there a better method I'm unaware of? I just worry about the thin wood withstanding the steam process.

Here are a couple of photos (sorry for the quality) showing the dresser in question.

2012-08-17 15.49.18.jpg 2012-08-17 15.49.39.jpg

[Jay Jolliffe]

If you already have the veneer try bending it slowly around the bend. If you using store bought veneer it's pretty thin & some bend really easy. Once you get it to bend then you have to hold it down....How your you going to do that ?
I made a bed that had a 1 1/2 radius at the top of the rails & the veneer bent rather easy. I used Massacre ebony.....Also a vac press to get the even pressure to hold it down.

[Montgomery Scott]

You can brush some cold press glue on and let it dry for one hour. Carefully position your veneer and use an iron on med-high heat and iron the veneer onto the substrate. The heat will reactivate the glue and you can form it over the radius. Just make sure you keep the iron moving or the heat buildup will cause problems with wood expansion and subsequent contraction.

[Jay Jolliffe]

Good Idea Montgomery. I forgot about the iron trick....That works good too.

[Roger Newby]

Joe sells some spray for flattening veneer that makes the veneer really flexible. You should be able to form it to the curve and tape it until it's dry then proceed from there. I did this to veneer a plastic container and it worked just fine.

[Stew Hagerty]

Joe sells some spray for flattening veneer that makes the veneer really flexible. You should be able to form it to the curve and tape it until it's dry then proceed from there. I did this to veneer a plastic container and it worked just fine.

I was browsing this thread and wondered... Who is Joe?

[Steve Ogletree]

Jay and Montgomery, thank you for the suggestions. It looks like the softener may be my best route, I'll order some and report back what I find. Roger thank you very much for the suggestion.

Joe runs a site concerning all things veneer and is a very good resource for veneer work. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post an external link here so just google Joe Woodworker and check him out.

[Roger Newby]

Sorry...........I thought most knew about Joe Woodworker.

[Peter Quinn]

Hot pipe. You are asking the iron to do a lot on that radius bend, simultaneously bend the veneer and adhere the glue. It might work, it will always be under tension if the veneer doesn't easily bend the curve on its own. I usually think of the iron for more subtle radius work. But if you moisten the veneer well you can bend it around a hot pipe, clamp it to the case to cool that way using tape or some spring clamps, then it will easily say in place when its time for glue and the hot iron veneer may work better for you after that.

[Mike Henderson]

Joe sells some spray for flattening veneer that makes the veneer really flexible. You should be able to form it to the curve and tape it until it's dry then proceed from there. I did this to veneer a plastic container and it worked just fine.

You could try just using water and doing as Roger suggest. The commercial flattening solution is just glycerin, water and alcohol. The glycerin is hygroscopic so it keeps the veneer from drying out completely after you "flatten" it and the veneer "dries".

Mike

[Steve Peterson]

Jay and Montgomery, thank you for the suggestions. It looks like the softener may be my best route, I'll order some and report back what I find. Roger thank you very much for the suggestion.

If you have a vacuum press and a large vacuum bag, it might be worth trying to use the softener to pre-bend the veneer to shape and let it dry before glueing it. You may need to build a form, since the entire dresser would collapse inside a vacuum bag.

Joe also sells a heat-lock glue that is specifically designed to be activated by heat. It may just be a form of hide glue.

Steve

[Stew Hagerty]

Sorry...........I thought most knew about Joe Woodworker.

Nope, I haven't done much veneering. But I have some nice figured veneer I picked up at our local woodworking store that I want to use on a project sometime soon. I just checked, and it looks like a good resource.

[David Peebles 1]

Again, I'm browsing old threads and ran into one that I might be able to contribute to. Most people (including a lot of boatbuilders), think it requires moisture (steam or hot water) to bend wood. It's actually the heat that does it--no moisture required, though in certain cases it does help. I ran into this by accident maybe 25 years ago, started experimenting around, and eventually wrote an article on it for "WoodenBoat". Don't recall the issue, but it was at least 18 years ago. If anyone wants to know, I can put my hands on it pretty easily. The way I'd do your waterfall front would work pretty well with your thin veneer, I think, though I don't have any experience with lacewood. (One thing I did for the WB article was try out a lot of different species, but mainly ones of interest to boatbuilding.) I'd put down your adhesive (no recommendations here--for boat related stuff I usually use epoxy). Tape or otherwise fasten the far edge of the veneer, then use a heat gun, playing it across the area of the bend while pressing on the wood. You might have to clamp a sandwich of sticks to it to control twist or wobbling. As the heat penetrates the veneer--very quickly with thin stuff-- you can feel it yield to your pressure until it's in place. Hold it there for a minute or two to cool, and it's set. Alternatively, you could prebend to your required curve (overbend a little, as there will be springback), let it cool, and the curve will be set. If you have to correct the bend, just heat it again. I've occasionally made too tight a bend, and had to reheat it, even though it would seem that merely flexing it would suffice. It's amazing the bends you can make this way, even with much thicker wood. It works on plywood, too, and if you laminate two pieces of it that have been prebent, it's astonishing how rigid the result will be.