Veneering crown moulding

[Alvaro Carrasco]

Hi,

Has anyone have success applying paper backed wood veneer on crown molding?

I'm working with walnut Burl Veneer and a vacuum press. I've attached the crown moulding profile but I'll be modifying it to round over the top an bottom edges.

Any suggestions and tips would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance...

Crown Moulding.jpg

[Mel Fulks]

I have not done that. But that particular profile tends to roll up some because of that deep cut. Since the veneer is thin and delicate I would make sure every foot of it beds correctly before the veneering. And check it again after the veneer is on.

[Steve Demuth]

Haven't done it on crown molding per se, but I have veneered into a concave uniform curve like that, albeit one larger than the 6" or so you're trying to cover. The challenge is obviously to keep the veneer from binding at the tops of the concavity and pulling apart at the bottom as the caul and pressure force the veneer into the concavity. I did that by making a very well fitted caul (allowing of course for the veneer thickness) then "stretching" slightly over-sized veneer over the caul and firmly taping it down before applying glue to the substrate (the molding in your case) and pressing it onto the veneer and caul with the vacuum press. I also used a glue with a long open time, so it was still a bit "slippery" when it went into the press.

If you're going to try veneering around the edges, this is going to be harder - keeping veneer from hanging up on the small radius convex edge curves is going to be a challenge. If it were me, I'd leave the corners sharp, and treat the two short edges as a an edge banding problem after applying and trimming the veneer on the concavity.

[Alvaro Carrasco]

Haven't done it on crown molding per se, but I have veneered into a concave uniform curve like that, albeit one larger than the 6" or so you're trying to cover. The challenge is obviously to keep the veneer from binding at the tops of the concavity and pulling apart at the bottom as the caul and pressure force the veneer into the concavity. I did that by making a very well fitted caul (allowing of course for the veneer thickness) then "stretching" slightly over-sized veneer over the caul and firmly taping it down before applying glue to the substrate (the molding in your case) and pressing it onto the veneer and caul with the vacuum press. I also used a glue with a long open time, so it was still a bit "slippery" when it went into the press.

If you're going to try veneering around the edges, this is going to be harder - keeping veneer from hanging up on the small radius convex edge curves is going to be a challenge. If it were me, I'd leave the corners sharp, and treat the two short edges as a an edge banding problem after applying and trimming the veneer on the concavity.

HiSteve,

Thanks for the response, I'm wondering if this would be easier to hand press the veneer on the crown moulding - instead of building a custom caul. the crown moulding will be roughly 7' long and I'm not sure if I'll have enough open time if I decide to do hammer veneering per se.

If I do decide to go the custom caul route - how would you build the mold? Would you use bending plywood secured to solid wood "Ribs"?

Your responses are appreciated.

Thanks!

[Steve Demuth]

ALvaro,

I think open time is going to be a challenge any way you go - getting a uniform thin coat on 7' of that concavity is going be time consuming with most glues I've work with. If I were trying this, I'd do it with my shop as cool as the glue's chemistry would support.

Building the caul is an interesting challenge. If you're going to use it in a vacuum press, then I'd go with bending plywood over ribs made of mdf. They will be easy to mass produce once you've got the shape, using router techniques. So it might look like this:

Caul.jpg

Except with the covers going to end in both cases, and probably 6X the number of ribs.

[Mel Fulks]

Didn't see how much footage you need. But sometimes you can cover the piece with Saran wrap then use body putty or plaster to "make the CAUL"

[Chris Padilla]

I think with a slow enough vacuum, you can work the bag to press the veneer on.

One thing to keep in mind is to properly support the crown molding as it is pressed. If you don't, you'll pull 3 pieces that used to be 1 piece out of the press.

Stick a couple 45 degree (or whatever the angle is) wedges under the 'legs' of your crown.