Bending Veneer Around Round Edges

[Dennis Zlotnik]

I'm having trouble conceptualizing how to bend the veener along the 4 round corners in the table image below. I want to grain to flow along the entire front facing edge, but can't think of how to do it. Any suggestions?

[Adam Herman]

a full sheet applied over the whole thing and then use a router with a trim bit to trim around and a nice sharp chisel to clean up after that.

[Dennis Zlotnik]

Genius, thank you

[Pat Barry]

I don't see how Adam's idea actually does what you want. Your picture implies that you want to bend the edge banding so that the grain flows around the corner and matches both the horizontal and vertical grain. Doing the full sheet and routing process will leave you with crossgrain on the rounded corners. I have noanswer for you on how to bend edge banding like you indicated you wanted though, that sounds like it would be a interesting result.

[Dennis Zlotnik]

Hey Pat - I think that's the problem. No other solutions other than the one Adam was able to suggest.

[mike holden]

Sounds like you want the grain to curve at the corners, yes?
So then to get a curved veneer you need to start with curved wood.
Steam bend some straight grain wood to match the curve, cut veneer from the steam bent piece and apply.
Mike

[Adam Herman]

you could bend and then cut the veneer, or you could make the curve, stacking thin pieces, then cut the veneer off of that, but i don't see any way to actually bend a piece of banding like that.

[Tony Leonard]

Maybe I'm off base here, but I would cut angled segments to make the curve. Similar to veneering a round table with pie shaped pieces. Very easy to do and if done well, the grain would flow fairly well. Use the grain to your advantage when cutting the segments (find curvy grain).

Tony

[Wayne Lomman]

I agree with Tony. Segment it around the corners. It is a legitimate method if using solid timber so match that with veneer. Cheers

[Jamie Buxton]

Don't try to bend the veneer. Miter it.
Pretend for the moment that the table corner has zero radius -- that is, it is just a ninety degree square corner. You'd pretty naturally miter the two veneers runs coming into the corner. Now allow the table corner to have some curve, but keep the miter between the two pieces of veneer. You can keep the corners of the field of veneer in the middle of the table having square corners.

361298

[Todd Willhoit]

you could bend and then cut the veneer, or you could make the curve, stacking thin pieces, then cut the veneer off of that, but i don't see any way to actually bend a piece of banding like that.

If your edge banding has a tight grain then I think Adam's idea is the closest to what you desire. Cut the veneers, stack and glue, and bend to match the curve. Cut your final veneer from the EDGE of the bent veneer and plane to the desired thickness. Use a router with a trim bit or sand the edges to tidy things up. Since your project corners are mirror images, one veneer stack will work for all corners.

[Wayne Lomman]

Regarding creating a stack of bent veneers and then cutting in the other plane, this keeps the grain curving but all you will see is a mass of glue lines with a tiny bit of timber visible between. It won't look at all natural or even like the rest of the job. Tony and Jamie are on the right track. Cheers