Bubinga veneer and Unibond catalyst color

[Larry Fox]

Can anyone make a recomendation as to the best Unibond 800 catalyst color to use with waterfall bubinga veneer. I have a ton of the dark color but when mixed with the glue it goes pretty dark brown. It does great with walnut but I am wondering if it might be too dark for bubinga. Does anyone have any experience with this application? Anyone try the medium? If so, what color would you use to describe the mixture?

[Brad Shipton]

Larry, I have used the medium with Cherry veneers, Sapele and Makore. I would say the color is basically tan. I think it will work well with Bubinga. I have some bubinga swirl I plan to get to someday.

Brad

[Jim Tobias]

Larry,
I have used the dark catalyst before with bubinga. But, I also finished the bubinga with Danish oil, then shellac and lacquer.
I think the danish oil darkens the grain in the bubinga so it matches up pretty well with the dark catalyst in Unibond.

Jim

[Jamie Buxton]

I've never quite understood why they sell different colors of catalysts. When I veneer something, the glue is underneath the veneer. It is invisible. The color doesn't matter. It could be purple or green or dayglow yellow, and nobody would ever know.

[Joe Jensen]

I've never quite understood why they sell different colors of catalysts. When I veneer something, the glue is underneath the veneer. It is invisible. The color doesn't matter. It could be purple or green or dayglow yellow, and nobody would ever know.

I used a vacuum press and Unibond and the vacuum pulls some glue through pores sapele grain. Not sure about others. Freaked me out the first time I pulled out a panel, but when scraped with a cabinet scraper the glue disappeared.

[Brad Shipton]

Jamie, just as Joe said, many have had problems with the glue color when it squeezes into the pores of the veneer. Particularily a problem with Ash and some other very light woods. Also, if you ever work with Crotch or Burl veneers this can be a problem as they tend to have splits and coarse grained areas where squeeze through is common.

Brad

[Larry Fox]

Thanks for the replies guys, I think the dark will do it.

Tim, my schedule for bubinga is pretty much the same with some slight variation.

Jamie, I (like Joe and Brad) use a vac press and get some pull-through on occasion at the seams and pin holes that might be in the veneer.

[Chris Padilla]

Larry,

Veneersupplies carries the Better Bond (http://www.veneersupplies.com/default.php?cPath=86_40&osCsid=2210650e3afc4113be4d8262cb1d8ab9) brand of veneer glues and they have 3 different colors. I've been using the dark for my walnut veneering but they have "light" and "medium" colors as well.

This glue is probably the strangest I've ever seen. It is the consistency and color of a very thick chocolate milkshake--you think it was bad/expired glue! Anyway, I've had great success thus far veneering 1/16" walnut veneer to MDF substrates. 1 hour in the vacuum press and 4 hours to cure outside the press and it is ready. Temperature ranges aren't as finicky as for the Unibond stuff.