Veneering The Floor

Here I am laying up the veneer into oversize sheets. The veneer is thick enough that I can glue the edges. I am using veneer tape on the show face to hold the pieces together while the glue sets. I'll scrape it off after I have glued the veneer to the substrate.

Once the glue set I scraped the excess off the back.

I am using a workbench and an assortment of scrap to make a setup to glue the panels.

Here I am testing the clamps etc. Paper is the first layer over the veneer in case any glue escapes, Then I am using a piece of a wood core door. Over that I have four thick blocks which I can clamp from both ends. It's a bit of a jumble but it works.

I tried the bottom piece first to see how it goes. Well, as I sometimes say "live and learn". That is to say that it did not go as well as I wanted. I put a good layer of glue on both surfaces, which made the veneer warp.

That isn't a big problem but when I picked the piece up to transfer it to the substrate, it split in two places. With everything covered with glue I decided to move ahead and not repair the splits first. Everything wanted to slide around. I used a couple of 1/2" brads to hold the veneer in place for clamping and fit the splits together as best I could.

I left the work in clamps overnight. I had removed them after 2 hours but found that the glue still had not set along one of the splits so clamped up again. I removed the clamps with some apprehension and was pleased to see that I had a panel that was usable. I may rout out and replace a section where one of the splits had pulled away a bit leaving a gap, but it is a usable face for the bottom.

Applying what I had just learned to the glue up for the show face, I spread a generous amount of glue on the substrate only,

then carefully moved the veneer into position. I tacked one end down and used my hands to press from the middle a bit, then added the door and blocks and clamped it up.

I left it clamped for about 24 hours. this time when I removed the clamps all had gone well. Since I made the veneer oversize I have to use a spacer against the saw fence for the first cut.

Then I can trim the other edge against the fence. I use a crosscut sled to trim the ends.

Well, thats all for now. Thanks for taking a look. Check back again and see how it's going.