Comments on: Shop-sawn Veneers: A Primer

By: rcoles

rcoles — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 15:44:37 +0000

It is so funny that I always start a project – usually above my skill level – then read the technique in multiple articles a month later. I resawed a stunning piece of spalted cherry. The problem was to keep a uniform thickness.
I made the mistake not to use the “good” side of the board against the guide. That prevented me from moving the guide, but it increased the wagging exponentially.
I waxed the saw blade between every pass.
I tried to plane on my Delta 13″ with new blades and a backer board and a sled… the first veneer simply exploded, and I got scared.
I ended up sanding with a portable bandsander, then gluing on the substrate, then politely asking a kitchen cabinet manufacturer to drum sand the top.
The piece in made in New York and will travel to a way more humid area in Switzerland… We’ll see how the glue holds in the next 4 years:)
I am still proud of the effect. I’d like to post a pix of the final result.
Thank you Heather!

By: zdillinger

zdillinger — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 20:50:43 +0000

Definitely the latter. A little bowsaw won’t do anything for you in this situation. A proper frame saw has the blade in the middle, with two loose stiles on either side, and the blade tension keeps the whole thing together. A regular large bowsaw will work as well.

When you plane on the sandpaper, obviously make sure to protect your tools. That’s one reason why I usually just clamp the veneer. Less to damage my plane / scraper on. But it will work. I would advise you to work on veneer that is larger in every dimension that you need it to be, so that you don’t run off and scratch up your plane.

By: milesthom

milesthom — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 15:32:54 +0000

Thanks for the reply – had not thought of anything as obvious as sandpaper.

“bow saw” – 12″ framessaw like Marples sold years ago, or one of the European-size saws that one sees in articles written by Tage Frid, etc.

I suspect the latter.

Last evening I was resawing a board from some spruce, to avoid a lot of planing. The board was not thick enough to use by rip saw, so used the rip side of the Shark ryoba – it was slow going, much slower that the western saw, but the off cut was “near veneer” – maybe 3/32″ in thickness.

Now I’ll try planing it with sandpaper

Cheers – Miles

By: zdillinger

zdillinger — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 13:13:02 +0000

Miles, you can handsaw veneer with any ripsaw. It just takes patience. You can also make yourself a frame saw, which is a bowsaw with a wider blade. 2″ is a pretty good standard. Anyone with a Foley machine can make you one.

As for planing, you have a couple of options. One is to simply clamp one end of your veneer to your bench (make sure the bench is FLAT) and plane away from it with a toothing plane, then flip the piece around, clamp the area you just planed, and plane the other way. You can also try making a bed of medium grit sandpaper and using the friction against the veneer to hold it in place while planing. I usually just clamp it down.

By: Grumpyone

Grumpyone — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 13:01:51 +0000

You need both, and lots of practice.

By: milesthom

milesthom — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 02:07:25 +0000

Two questions:

1) No bandsaw, how do I handsaw veneers?

2) How does one handplane such thin, 1/16″ pieces?

Cheers – Miles (who is really starting to wonder if he should have bought a bandsaw rather than a tablesaw)