Veneer

[William Nimmo]

I am sitting on thousands (maybe tens of thousands) of pieces of Veneer. Probably every species from Ambrosia to Zebra, literally. Never worked with it before but I guess I will start. Looks like the interior of my mid 90's boat is going from white plastic laminate to teak, mahogony and white Oak. What is the best adhesive to use where I Cannot use a vaccuum press. (never did that either) I will scuff up the plastic and apply in relatively small sections. Probably 24 inches wide. Working on mostly verticle surfaces. I was thinking a quality construction ahdesive that will set fairly quickly, not be effected by freezing temperatures, but still give me wome wiggle room. I don't like the idea of contact cement as it is too unforgiving. I will also be looking into a way to package and mail it and offer it to creekers at stupid prices.

[george wilson]

NEVER USE CONTACT CEMENT!!!!!!!!!! The veneer will pop loose in football shaped bubbles,and you cannot get it to re stick.

I saw an idiot veneer a piano like that,and that is exactly what happened,though the veneer was varnished over,and the piano was kept indoors.

Curiously enough,there had just been an article in "Fine Woodworking" that mentioned this very problem with using contact cement.

[William Nimmo]

See, I knew I didn't want to use contact cement.

[Nate Carey]

William, am I understanding you correctly? You're going to apply veneer to the interior of your plastic (fiberglass reinforced plastic) boat?

[William Nimmo]

I am going to remake the cabinet doors with white oak styles and rails and teak flat panels. I will be using the veneer on the face of the cabinets and mica bulkheads. Here is a picture of the galley taken off a website of the same boat.http://<a href=

[William Nimmo]

O.k. tried to post a picture using photobucket. guess I did it wrong .

[William Nimmo]

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here it is I think. this is one side of the Cabin where I will be replacing all doors and drawer fronts and putting the veneer on the face frames and bulkheads.

[Mike Henderson]

Is the veneer "raw" or paper backed? If paper backed, you can usually use contact cement and treat the veneer the same as plastic laminate. If it's raw veneer, I would agree with George and not recommend contact cement.

Depends on what the veneer is, I might be interested in buying some. Make sure you keep it in sequence. You can roll the veneer and ship it in a box very easily and safely. When I buy veneer, that's the way the veneer companies ship it.

Mike

[Matt Day]

I can't view the picture for some reason, you are planning on removing the doors and bringing them into your shop and veneering there right? Veneering in place sounds like trouble.

If this is a big project, you might want to seriously consider a vacuum press. I did my first veneer project witout one and am not happy with the results (cracking, adhesion problems, etc). I'm sure I didn't do a great job of the application, but still, a vacuum press is much better.

[William Nimmo]

I have both raw veneer and paper backed. I was going to use the paper backed for the curved surfaces. But I really dont want to use contact cement.

[Stephen Musial]

Hot hide glue was the traditional method. It has good initial grab but you can still move it around a bit. It's affected by heat and/or moisture so a boat might be a bit iffy.

A second way is to coat both pieces with Titebond 2 or 3. Let it dry for an hour or so and then iron it in place. The heat reactivates the glue and you get an excellent bond.

Let me know if you decide to sell - I do mostly small pieces like gaming boards and am always on the lookout for interesting pieces (plus I donate everything I make to charity auctions and hospitals so you'd be selling it for a good cause)

[Nate Carey]

William, I understand now...the gallery shot prompts me to ask for more photos of the boat...you see, I'm one of those "boat nuts". Thanks, Nate

[george wilson]

As said,hide glue is the best,but for a boat,Im waiting for a boat guy to comment. Sometimes the glue comes through the veneer in a solid sheet. It did when I was making a harpsichord with burly mahogany panels. Solid glue. Scraped it smooth,and you would never know there was glue in the grain. It served as a filler.

But,I'd be very careful,because you do not want a glue WITH COLOR coming through your veneer.

[William Nimmo]

I will be posting more pictures as this will be a major change and it will be documented along the way. Don't know when it will start, with work and all, but stay tuned. Regarding small pieces for sale. Holy crap do I have veneer.
I don't think titebond 2 will be happy on plastic laminate. I will do a test.

[William Nimmo]

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OK all the doors and drawer fronts will not be veneered. They will be solid wood style and rails. I will also remake the entry way doors into the master and head with Solid stock and some teak plywood panels.What would be veneered is all the white you see, other than the doors, that is not upholstered. Can't vacu press that in place. I think a good marine type caulk gun dispersed construction adhesive, applied very thin and used quickly befored it skins over and pressed in place.

[Stephen Musial]

I would bet that by the time you get enough on and spread out, it will already have skimmed over. Either that, or you'll have big bumps in the surface that won't spread out.

The more I think about it, the better I like the hide glue. Sand the formica with 80 grit, wipe it down with mineral spirits or naphtha and then apply the hot hide glue and hammer the veneer over the formica. Try some samples and see how it works.

What are the cabinets - particle board? If they're holding up in that environment, I would bet that hide glue would as well.

Or, if you're bored, a scraper, lacquer thinner a little elbow grease and strip the formica off...

[William Nimmo]

The cabinets are made from marine grade Plywood. There is no way that laminate is coming off.

[george wilson]

I didn't see that you are trying to veneer OVER FORMICA. I think you are going to really end up with a terribly screwed up bunch of cabinets.

[Mitchell Andrus]

Veneer over plastic laminate??? No.

Make new cabinets. You'll do a better job than the original builders and you won't have any adhesion problems.
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