Jamie, about veneer tape
you said
"My experience with masking tape in a vacuum press is bad. The adhesive is semi-liquid, and the press' pressure squeezes it into the pores of the wood. It does not peel off the wood cleanly, like it does in normal usage. The adhesive gums up a scraper or a sander. Veneer tape works much better. It can be removed with a scraper or a sander."
I just saw the blue 3m tape i am considering using here:
Joe Woodworker
http://www.veneersupplies.com/catego...%26__Supplies/
where they say about it:
For complicated and fussy veneer seams, you can't beat this 3M painters tape. I use this 3/4" wide clean release tape to hold the underside of two veneers together while I prepare the regular veneer tape for the face side. After the brown tape starts to set, I remove the blue tape and allow the veneers to dry before placing it in the vacuum press.
While it is undeniably expensive, 60 yards (one roll) goes a long, long way. You can also find this tape in the paint aisle of your local hardware store.
They do say
"the blue tape goes on the back of the veneer."
and then they put regular tape on the front. The back side is defined as the side you want to glue to the substrate.
Whole process discussed here:
http://www.joewoodworker.com/veneering/veneertaping.htm
What I realize reading this, is that they DO NOT edge glue at all. At least they never mention it. What they do is blue tape on glue side; veneer tape on top side, moisten and let it pull pieces together; remove blue tape from underneath; glue on substrate; veneer on top and press. Ahhhh, so thats what blue tape is for!
This is an alternate method to the u tube video that I posted in my 2nd post above, and so much easier.