Shop made veneer?

[chris ormsby]

I am planning on making a spindle turning with a Celtic knot incorporated in it. My problem is that, I don't have a thinkness sander to size the veneer. I do have a bandsaw and table saw. I did experiment with planing stock down to 1/8 to 3/16 thick and the results were not positive to say the least. Is there a way to bring in this thickness keeping the sides parallel. I have fooled with bandsawing and following with random orbit sander but it seems to wash off the edges. My understanding is that the thickness needs to match the saw cut spot on. I am quite sure I would be hard pressed to justify a drum sander for one job! I am not sure if this post belongs in the turning forum?
Thanks in advance for the suggestions. Chris

[Mike Henderson]

Why do you want to shop make the veneer? Why not buy commercial veneer?

Mike

[Richard Coers]

Make a vacuum rip fence fixture and use the table saw,
http://www.davidreedsmith.com/articles/vacuumripfence/vacuumripfence.htm#Vacuum%20Rip%20Fence

[chris ormsby]

I had seen the vacuum fence, but wasn't sure how it would work. I do have a vac pump I use with the lathe. I am game to try the fence I suppose. All the commercial veneer that I have looked at online don't specify ant tolerance on the thickness. I will look into the fence tho week. I have a bookcase to get out of the shop. Thanks for the input.

[Jamie Buxton]

I don't understand:

* What does veneer have to do with spindle turning?

* How thick and how wide does your veneer want to be?

* Why can't you just slice it to the correct thickness on the bandsaw? That's how most folks make shop-sawn veneer.

[Richard Coers]

Jamie, He's talking about ink pen blanks. You make 1/8" saw kerfs, at an angle, in a 3/4" square blank, then fill in the saw kerf with a snug fitting slice of contrasting wood. So he needs slices of 1/8" stock, less than 1" tall.

[Jamie Buxton]

Jamie, He's talking about ink pen blanks. You make 1/8" saw kerfs, at an angle, in a 3/4" square blank, then fill in the saw kerf with a snug fitting slice of contrasting wood. So he needs slices of 1/8" stock, less than 1" tall.

Oh.

That should be pretty easy. A table saw can make slices of a constant thickness, and produce a glueable surface. No sanding needed.

[chris ormsby]

I actually need about 2 x 2 square by approx .187 thick. The intention is to glue up a Celtic knot into the body of a salt and pepper mill. My sister in law just got married and this is going to be their wedding gift. We gave them a smaller gift at the time of their wedding, but I need to get these done soon. I am going to laminate walnut into maple and vice-versa. Last winter I did a pen and a wooden bell laminated with a Celtic knot and neither came out to my satisfaction. I tried cutting thru and leaving a small web to keep things in line. Both aproaches presented their own challenges. If you cut thru, the parts tend to slide on the wood glue. If you leave a web, it is imperative that the veneer be an exact match to the saw cut. I wonder how pissed mamma would be if another machine showed up in the shop? I am not feeling that luckey!

[Steve Peterson]

Chris, how about laminating several layers of commercial veneer to get exactly 0.187" thick? This would allow you to create a pattern using mixtures of different colors to build up to the desired thickness. You already have a vacuum pump to press the pieces together, although 2" by 2" would be just as easy to use clamps.

Steve

[Mike Henderson]

Chris, how about laminating several layers of commercial veneer to get exactly 0.187" thick? This would allow you to create a pattern using mixtures of different colors to build up to the desired thickness. You already have a vacuum pump to press the pieces together, although 2" by 2" would be just as easy to use clamps.

Steve
The problem with gluing up several pieces of commercial veneer is if you sand through the first layer when finishing. If you do, you'll have a witness line of glue showing.

Of course, if the end will show and not the face, gluing up will work fine.

Mike

[phil harold]

I don't understand:

* What does veneer have to do with spindle turning?



celtic knot is made with 1/8 veneer laminated in the square blank then turned...