Veneer help

[Dan Schultz]

I'm in the middle of my first veneer project and wondered if someone could lend some advice. I'm making a coffe table and I've resawn 4 pieces of curly maple 1/8" thick that will be veneered to 3/4" Baltic birch plywood. After I cut the maple it curled up pretty good the pieces are 8" wide and 21 inces long. With the boards sitting flat on the Bench the edges are curled up aprox 1/4-3/8". Should these be flattened before I vacuum press them? Should the four pieces be yellow glued together to make one solid piece befor being glued to the substrate? Should I use veneer tape? Thanks in advance for any advice!!

[David DeCristoforo]

With 1/8" thick material, veneer tape is pretty much going to be a lost cause unless you get the pieces flat first. I would "spritz" the concave side with water and see if the curl will come out. You might also lightly hit the convex side with a heat gun which also might encourage the pieces to flatten out. If all attempts fail, I would glue one piece at a time to the substrate. The vacuum press will easily flatten the pieces and it will be easier to fit them together one at a time than having to try and tape up the cupped pieces.

[C Scott McDonald]

Maybe just set it out on stickers to let the moisture equalize throughout the board. It will probably go flat again

Good luck.