Anyone worked with imbuia veneer before?

[David Kuzdrall]

I am going to be selecting veneers soon for my speaker build and was wondering if anyone here as any experience with imbuia veneer? I know nothing about this lumber, is it oily and difficult to glue like some exotics or does it process "normally"?

thanks,

dk

[John Lifer]

Use solids for turning. One of my top two or three for the smell, it isn't called pepperwood for nothing! It isn't nearly as oily as most exotics. It should be fine as what you call normal wood. I'd guess similar to jatoba but not as hard, (well with veneer it doesn't matter) It IS a beautiful wood with a lot of variation in color. Give it a try.

[Jim Tobias]

David,
I used some figured Imbuia veneer on a desktop for my grandson. It was a replacement top for a student type desk. It glued down well on Baltic Birch ply with Unibond 800. I also dyed it to get a darker color and that caused no issues. The color is like the first picture. The other photos are a washed out from flash.

Jim

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[Chris Fournier]

Imbuya works beautifully and the veneer is just fine to work with as well. It looks very elegant with a nice thin finish - wiped on varnish would be fine.

[David Kuzdrall]

Imbuya works beautifully and the veneer is just fine to work with as well. It looks very elegant with a nice thin finish - wiped on varnish would be fine.

I almost always finish with p&l no. 38... So this sounds good so far!

for veneer glue, I am leaning toward unibond 800 but what tint strength should I use?

thx

[Jim Tobias]

David,
With the Unibond 800, I used the dark, but I don't think it would matter as the medium is dark enough to blend. You shouldn't get that much bleed through with the Umbuya anyway unless you have knots or holes in the veneer.


Jim