Use Solid Wood or Veneer?

Solid Wood or Veneer?

I have issues with using solid wood.

There are few lumberyards where I live (Colorado) that sell solid wood. The big box stores have a limited selection of hardwood: red oak, birch, and maple. We have a Rockler and Woodcraft store, but solid wood is expensive.

With solid wood, the construction must accommodate expansion and contraction.

A joiner and planer is very handy when working with solid wood, but I just don't have room for them.

To address these issues I typically use veneer over cabinet-grade plywood. The benefits are

• Cabinet-grade plywood is readily available at the big box stores. It may already have a paper-thin veneer of oak or birch on it, so I just glue my veneer over it.
• Plywood is less susceptible to issues of wood movement due to humidity fluctuations. This simplifies the design and construction.
• Veneer is significantly less expensive than solid wood as it should be; you are only getting a fraction of the wood. Higher quality veneer is around 1/40" thick. This may sound like it could be easily damaged, but its pretty resilient when glued to plywood. I wouldn't recommend abusive applications like stair treads, but book shelves, cabinets, and many table designs could easily use veneer.
• Some awesome veneer is available on the internet. I've been buying veneer from Certainlywood for years.

Often veneer strips may be only 4" to 6" wide, so they must be glued side-by-side when a wide board is required. Because the veneer edges can be fairly uneven, I first cut them straight. When I started to use veneer, the biggest challenge I had was tearout when cutting them. I've discussed my solution to this problem in an earlier blog.

Tape holds the veneer strips together when gluing. First I use blue painters tape to temporarily hold the pieces, then I turn the veneer over apply veneer tape to hold the pieces during the gluing operation.
The veneer tape is the white strip with holes in the picture on the right. It has an adhesive backing that is activated with water like a postage stamp (used to be). Because the tape is so thin, its outline won't be pressed into the veneer. When the tape dries, flip the veneer over again and remove the blue painters tape.

I use Titebond II glue to bond the veneer to the plywood. I frequently stain the veneer using a water-base dye and before I started using Titebond II, I experienced some veneer delamination. Some woodworkers have raised concerns that it may setup too quickly, but I've never had a problem. I usually clamp it for an hour to assure a secure bond.

I'll talk about edge treatments in a later blog entry.