Preventing Glue Bleed-Through Veneer

This is the first time I've used sepele on a project. The problem I'm having is glue bleed through.The dark areas shown here are glue filling the wood's pores. This bleed-though is caused by the pores pulling the glue under the veneer through to the top surface. With oak, cherry and maple, I haven't had much of a problem. And usually if I see this issue, I can just sand it out. But I'm especially seeing this with sepele and sanding won't help.

Because I frequently use a water-based dye, I always use Titebond II for bonding veneer because it is water resistant and reduces delamination. Applying less glue may reduce bleed-through, but how much less before risking delamination?

I've even had issues after removing the veneer tape. After it look like it is completely removed, I'll dye the workpiece and then evidence of the tape adhesive reappears. I think it is the same issue as discussed before. The glue from the tape gets caught in the pores and you need to sand again and again. The problem, of course, is that you may sand all the way through the veneer.

I've been pleased with the results of sealing the back of the veneer to reduce glue bleed through by spraying one coat of Deft lacquer on the glue facing side of the veneer. On the top, I sprayed along the veneer seam before applying the veneer tape.

This stopped the veneer tape issues and considerably reduced the glue bleed-through, but some areas continued to appear. My second step is to soak up glue if it occurs. I lay sheets of brown masking paper between the veneer and the caul. This soaks up the glue to the veneer surface. When bleed-through is evident, light sanding is more successful because minimal glue remains in the pores.

With my glue bleed-through issues, I was originally thinking that this would be my last project with sepele. I'm please that this glue-up approach seems to be working so I can use sepele without worries next time.