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Thread: What to do with a veneer bonanza (besides giving it to you)

  1. #1

    What to do with a veneer bonanza (besides giving it to you)

    I'm generally not much of a veneer user, but I was at an estate sale today, and managed to score some amazing veneers.
    The previous owner was obviously very into marquetry and inlay work, and had accumulated an astonishing collection of veneers of nearly every species you can imagine, and had apparently kept every scrap of every piece of veneer he had ever cut.

    Anyway, I ended up with probably 200-300 square feet (or more) of premium veneer. Burls, exotics, domestics, figured, plain, dark, light. Big, medium, and small pieces, and lots of little scraps and trimmings. Truly amazing material. I will basically never have to buy veneer again in my life.

    Not many matching pieces, and some of it is scraps of less than a square foot, but there are a large number of 2-3 square foot sheets, and a few bookmatched sets and sequential stacks. I pretty much have one sheet of every species, and a few small stacks of the same kind.

    I got home and realized, I don't even know where to begin!
    So what the heck do I do with this? Help me veneer users

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Southwestern Penna.
    Posts
    329
    Send it to me.

  3. #3

    What kind of objects do you usually make?

    Christopher Collins,

    Of course there are many possibilities, some of which will depend on the amount of any particular veneer plus the category and the style of the work you like do. Whether you make tiny boxes or furniture, traditional or deconstructivist modern, there's a way to use veneer. In general, there are a lot of treatments to surfaces done with smaller contrasting pieces, including patterns and even images. Here are some random ideas, courtesy of casual googlization >

    https://www.google.com/search?q=imag...icial&tbm=isch

    Something that was popular a few years ago in high-end furniture were these kind of patchwork credenzas- and there are a couple of examples in the image series listed above. A friend has a very modern piece in her dining room that looked as though it was covered with a pony hide, or possibly the World's largest calico cat. With a material as versatile as veneer providing so many choices, narrowing the rage of projects depends on individual interests making the commitment in effort worthwhile. As intricate veneering is time-consuming, my tendency is to think of what might be called "high value" objects. If I had a lot of veneer, I'd probably design a series of mantle clock cases in a kind of Arts and Crafts style, and fit mechanical movements. Rebuild and veneer a piano in an Art Deco pattern? A box with divided pull out trays would be useful and decorative, and jewellery and small display boxes would be typical uses. Table top display case for porcelain demitasse cups in the shape of frogs? Mass production of chess boards? How about a cigar box with a veneer portrait of Winston Churchill?

    What kind of objects do you usually make?

    Alan Caro
    Last edited by Alan Caro; 04-06-2014 at 3:49 AM.

  4. #4
    I usually make smaller items. knife handles, jewelry (I made a bunch of necklaces and ear-rings for my wife and other family members this Christmas), cutting boards, boxes, lamps etc....usually with exotic woods I find at estate sales.
    So furniture and cabinetry would be quite a leap for me. But it's a leap I've been meaning to make.

    I like the patchwork idea. In fact, there are a few shoeboxes filled with rectangular (3"x6") labeled samples from veneer dealers. Not enough for a whole project, but it might make an interesting geometric pattern if I tiled it in offset rows like bricks, or cut them into 3" squares and did a checkerboard with light and dark, or maybe a gradient pattern. That way I could cover a larger surface.
    And the piano idea sounds interesting too. I'm sure I could find a neglected piano if I kept my eyes open.

    So Is it possible to take solid but boring pieces of furniture and cover them with veneer?
    It seems like gluing veneer to an intact piece of furniture would be quite a challenge. How would I clamp it while the glue sets?

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Webster Groves, MO
    Posts
    261
    Chessboards, cribbage boards, backgammon boards, box lids, field pieces for frame and panel boxes, objet d'art, etc. etc etc.

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Christopher Collins View Post
    I usually make smaller items. knife handles, jewelry (I made a bunch of necklaces and ear-rings for my wife and other family members this Christmas), cutting boards, boxes, lamps etc....usually with exotic woods I find at estate sales.
    So furniture and cabinetry would be quite a leap for me. But it's a leap I've been meaning to make.

    I like the patchwork idea. In fact, there are a few shoeboxes filled with rectangular (3"x6") labeled samples from veneer dealers. Not enough for a whole project, but it might make an interesting geometric pattern if I tiled it in offset rows like bricks, or cut them into 3" squares and did a checkerboard with light and dark, or maybe a gradient pattern. That way I could cover a larger surface.
    And the piano idea sounds interesting too. I'm sure I could find a neglected piano if I kept my eyes open.

    So Is it possible to take solid but boring pieces of furniture and cover them with veneer?
    It seems like gluing veneer to an intact piece of furniture would be quite a challenge. How would I clamp it while the glue sets?

    Christopher Collins,

    If you're making knife handles and jewelry, then table-top jewelry and knife storage boxes or display cases might make good starter projects and you can use the larger pieces for a field color and perhaps a checkerboard boarder. With these display, you take pair of the small samples and cut two, overlaid contrasting ones with a motif which when the motif of one sample is replaced in the other, it yields two squares that are inverted colors. The motifs could be geometric or have a form, for example the knife box could have a crossed swords motif, the jewelry box four crowns meeting in square- that kind of thing A box lid could be covered with these squares, perhaps with cross-banding separating them, perhaps alternate with solid color squares or have the motif lager and only in the center.

    Yes, one possibility with the patchwork furniture would be to find a very modern, but plain piece- and dining room sideboards are good candidates and then using veneer the cabinet in a field color of a veneer of which there is sufficient supply- perhaps not from the new supply, and then the top or front surface could have an abstract pattern or landscape scene, such as trees in profile- that kind of thing.

    I've seen veneering done of musical instruments- harpsichords and pianos, and the techniques in general seems to be to do an area, cover with fairly solid, flat pieces of wood, and clamp beginning in the center of the working area and then towards the exterior. This involves of course, having enough clamps that have the reach to apply the pressure in the center of the panels. There is apparently some subtlety to veneering large areas which helps prevent an effect of curvature when only one side is veneered, but that may be applicable when the panel or veneer is not equally dry or other factors, but I am not aware of the technicalities.

    The key to these projects seems to be a concentration on careful design and layout for a good aesthetic effect. My suggestion is to look at a lot of historical images, furniture/ antique auction as well as high-end furniture catalogs. I've certainly seen a lot of effort, materials, and fine craftsmanship go into veneered projects in which the effort is not as proportionally interesting /exciting to look at.

    Many intriguing possibilities!

    Alan Caro

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Christopher Collins View Post
    I usually make smaller items. knife handles, jewelry (I made a bunch of necklaces and ear-rings for my wife and other family members this Christmas), cutting boards, boxes, lamps etc....usually with exotic woods I find at estate sales.
    So furniture and cabinetry would be quite a leap for me. But it's a leap I've been meaning to make.

    I like the patchwork idea. In fact, there are a few shoeboxes filled with rectangular (3"x6") labeled samples from veneer dealers. Not enough for a whole project, but it might make an interesting geometric pattern if I tiled it in offset rows like bricks, or cut them into 3" squares and did a checkerboard with light and dark, or maybe a gradient pattern. That way I could cover a larger surface.
    And the piano idea sounds interesting too. I'm sure I could find a neglected piano if I kept my eyes open.

    So Is it possible to take solid but boring pieces of furniture and cover them with veneer?
    It seems like gluing veneer to an intact piece of furniture would be quite a challenge. How would I clamp it while the glue sets?

    Christopher Collins,

    If you're making knife handles and jewelry, then table-top jewelry and knife storage boxes or display cases might make good starter projects and you can use the larger pieces for a field color and perhaps a checkerboard boarder. With these display, you take pair of the small samples and cut two, overlaid contrasting ones with a motif which when the motif of one sample is replaced in the other, it yields two squares that are inverted colors. The motifs could be geometric or have a form, for example the knife box could have a crossed swords motif, the jewelry box four crowns meeting in square- that kind of thing A box lid could be covered with these squares, perhaps with cross-banding separating them, perhaps alternate with solid color squares or have the motif lager and only in the center.

    Yes, one possibility with the patchwork furniture would be to find a very modern, but plain piece- and dining room sideboards are good candidates and then using veneer the cabinet in a field color of a veneer of which there is sufficient supply, and then the top surface could have an abstract pattern or landscape scene, such as trees in profile- that kind of thing.

    I've seen veneering done of musical instruments- harpsichords and pianos, and the techniques in general seems to be to do an area, cover with fairly solid, flat pieces of wood, and clamp beginning in the center of the working area and then towards the exterior. This involves of course, having enough clamps that have the reach to apply the pressure in the center of the panels. There is apparently some subtlety to veneering large areas which helps prevent an effect of curvature when only one side is veneered, but that may be applicable when the panel or veneer is not equally dry or other factors, but I am not aware of the technicalities.

    The key to these projects seems to be a concentration on careful design and layout for a good aesthetic effect. My suggestion is to look at a lot of historical images, furniture/ antique auction as well as high-end furniture catalogs. I've certainly seen a lot of effort, materials, and fine craftsmanship go into veneered projects in which the effort is not as proportionally interesting /exciting to look at.

    Many intriguing possibilities!

    Alan Caro

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