Veneer

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Let's take just a minute and talk about veneer, the wood art. From the email information requests that I get, there are some people who equate veneer with cheap, possibly relating it to the particle board furniture available now days. Just the opposite is true.

The Chinese have been using veneer for centuries. Countless priceless Chinese artifacts have been found in their original state all intact and many have been in use for centuries, with wear, but no damage.

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Old Furniture Masters Used Veneer

The old furniture masters used veneer, which is thinly sliced wood, to add the natural beauty to their already fantastically crafted furniture.

Duncan Phyfe mahogany veneer

You probably would never find a Duncan Phyfe cabinet or table that wasn't veneered. Duncan Phyfe preferred to work with Mahogany. He would make a furniture piece out of solid Mahogony, then cover it with Mahogany veneer. He preferred the rich beauty and natural art that isn't available in solid wood. Many other well known furniture makers did the same thing, making furniture from a particular type of wood, then veneering with the same type.

Veneer mirror image

Lots of other furniture makers used whatever kind of wood was locally available to hold down cost, then veneered for the prettier appearance. It's impossible to find the delicate swirls, sprays and rays in solid wood that you will find in veneer.

A table that has a top with a repeat design or a design with a mirror image beside it is without a doubt veneer. The mirror image is from slicing wood thinly then opening it like a book.

Veneer has considerable strength

The thin wood overlay is fragile in it's natural state, because it's generally only 1/64 inch thick, but when it's properly glued to another surface it becomes a part of that surface and has considerable strength. You have to be careful when sanding, because it is so thin you can sand right through it, but it doesn't take much sanding to smooth it, because it is sliced with an extremely sharp knife.

Pressure sensitive veneer

Lumber manufacturers have taken pity on us and have made a product that is so easy to use that even the die hard furniture purists use it. It's called pressure sensitive veneer and is as easy to use as pre-glued shelf paper.

Veneering used to be only for the master craftsman and the stout of heart, but now modern technology has made it simple for even the most timid. They've glued a thin sheet of paper to the back to keep the thin wood from being unruly, making it possible to cut very evenly so that edges may be joined easily, then they put some very sticky glue on the paper and a protective sheet over the glue, so all you do is pull the protective sheet loose along an edge for a short distance, position the edge and carefully press it to hold it in place and remove the rest of the protective sheet.

Working from the center toward the outer edges with a roller or blade press the veneer tightly to the surface, then finish as you would any wood.

Repair

Veneer can be repaired. Usually, if it needs to be repaired, it's because someone has done something they shouldn't have done, like set a flower pot on a veneered surface and let water stand on the surface after watering the plant and doing this for several years. That will definitely lift the tightest glued veneer, but it would cause major damage to a solid wood surface too.

We'll cover repair in another area.