Veneer with large voids. Anything I can do?

[dirk martin]

I've got some veneer, that really looks unique. But, as you can see, the voids are pretty large. The leafs you see here, are 14.25" x 8.5".
I love the figure in the veneer, but the voids are significant, as you can see.
Is there anything I could do to salvage this? Maybe use it in some sort of special craft project?

270684

[Alan Lightstone]

It is absolutely possible to fill those voids with a veneer matching to the burls. You'll need to cut out the areas, and splice in matching corresponding areas. With voids this large, you can't just patch with epoxy/sawdust or any of those methods. It will not look good. It will have to be a patch with veneer.

[Mike Henderson]

Alan's exactly right. But it's going to be challenging to make those repairs non-noticeable. It's always best to avoid veneer with such large defects, unless you can work the veneer to avoid the defects, or at least most of the defects (such as cut the veneer so that only a small amount of the defect is left on the work).

Mike

[Paul R Miller]

You can "patch" the voids with feature pieces rather than matching ones. Marquetry or parquetry could be worked in with the intact parts of the burl as background.

[Richard Coers]

Those were probably bark inclusions. You will need a darker veneer to mimic the color of the bark. You should research marquetry cutting techniques since you could overlay you veneer over the dark veneer. Then cut both pieces at the same time on a scroll saw with the table tilted. The angle cut will close the blade kerf when you glue them up.

[Kevin Jenness]

Voids like these are not uncommon in burl veneeres They can be repaired with patches of veneer from the same flitch, either with a scroll saw technigue as mentioned, or using an irregular shaped veneer punch to shape the recess and matching plug. Various size punches can be found at Veneer Systems' website, or you can make your own from EMT tubing. There is a good description of making and using punches in Scott Grove's book "Advanced Veneering" as well as some spectacular unconventional methods of matching and seaming burl veneers.