I need to glue up some shop made plywood to make a custom table tennis blade or two for my BIL out of some red oak with sentimental value. The blank needs to be about 7" x 12" and will end up about 7mm thick (sorry for mixed units!) I am thinking 5 plies(alternating grain of course) or could do 3 plies if that would be better/stiffer/flatter? I have done test cuts and have proved I can successfully saw 1/16 veneer and sand to .055 to get 7mm final thickness. I'll make the outside veneers thicker and sand to final thickness (drum sander) after the blank is laminated.
Because of the limited stock I have (which came from a tree on their property) and my desire to have straight grain (not face grain) the slices will only be about 4 inches wide, so I'll have to lay up 2 strips for the long direction and 3 strips for the cross grain layers.
I plan to use West system epoxy and slow hardener (since I have it) and don't really see any benefit to using something like Unibond 800, but welcome advice to the contrary. I have a vacuum bag to do the pressing.
(Finally!) the question: Should I edge glue the two or three strips for each ply together first and then laminate them after they dry, or can I just lay them next to each other as I build up the stack, making sure to get epoxy on the mating edges? My concern is making sure the edges of the adjoining pieces stay tight if don't pre-glue them. I obviously can't use tape to hold them together if I don't pre-glue. If I should pre-glue, can I just use titebond for that part? I would edge glue them while the pieces are at sawn thickness and then sand them to make sure there's no hump from the glue.
Thanks for any advice!