"homemade" veneer advice pls.

[Rick Thom]

I am considering building a d-shaped table which is based on an 1830's period piece. The end aprons are 6" high and approx 20" long, and feature a 90 deg corner with a 6" radius. The front 2 legs are closer together than the back 2 which are located at the back corners. Rather than building this apron from a solid piece of wood, I would end up building a substrait (sp) and attaching a veneer to that. I would like to build the top and aprons from curly maple and the 4 turned legs from maple but ebonized for contrast.
Question is can I cut (resaw) slices of curly maple thin enough to be used for veneer for the aprons? I have a 10" table saw which is pretty accurate and a 12" portable planner. I would prefer to match the wood for the top and aprons rather than merely buying some veneer which would be the obvious easy solution. How thin would it need to be and are there any tricks to this?
Any input you can provide will be appreciated.

Thanks, Rick.

[Doug Shepard]

For a 6" radius you're going to need something 1/16" or thinner I would think. Resawing thin veneers on the TS is do-able but never ideal due to the amount of wood you'll waste with each saw cut. Your biggest problem is going to be the 6" height which forces you to cut in from both edges, with the inherent problems of minute differences in the kerf from each side. Then you've got the problem of planing out the saw marks or doing the final thicknessing on the planer. Even with attaching it to carriage boards, I've never been able to plane anything thinner than 1/4" without the planer turning the wood into confetti. A handplane would be a lot more tedious, but would likely let your veneer survive. And dont even attempt to cut anything that thin on a TS without zero clearance inserts to stop the veneer from slipping into the saw blade and shooting back in a shower of splinters.
What area are you in? (BTW - You can add that info to your profile so it appears on your posts). There's lots of folks here with bandsaws that would probably be willing to take some slices off your wood for you.

[Alan Turner]

Doug has it right. You are in to BS territory. Let us know whre you hail from and I'll bet a helping hand is nearby.

[Rick Thom]

Thanks for your replies.
I live in east suburbs of Toronto, Ontario.
Although I don't own a bandsaw (yet), I could get access to most tools at the not-too-distant" pay as you go" carpentry shop.
If I was to have a go using a band saw, do you think I would be able to do the job? or is the right thing just buy the veneer pre-made and call it done?

[tod evans]

rick, there`s more than one way to build your aprons. i would suggest using a brick stack substraight, if you lay-up one layer at a time a router with a flush cut bit will keep you square. your veneers can be cut on the tablesaw just cut them oversize and run them through a lunchbox planer untill they`re thin enough to bend the radius. if you don`t have access to a vacuum bag use the reverse method, an old intertube and preasure instead of vacuum. do a trial run before gluing, it`s real easy to blow apart your clamping frame with air preasure. tod

[Doug Shepard]

Is there someone there to help you set the machine up for thin resawing? It's not rocket science but does take some finessing and adjustment to get the blade tension, lead angle, etc. set right. If you haven't done it before and have to go solo, practice on something less costly than your good maple. What type of bandsaw do they have there? If it's just a 14" type without a riser block, 6" is about the max height capacity and you probably want to go a little wider if you're looking for a finished 6" width. For resawing you want a blade with 2-4 TPI and 6 TPI would be the absolute max. Anything more than that will just give you trouble. If they've got the BS set up with a finer blade for cutting curves, you'll have to change it. If they've got a wide belt or drum sander there to smooth things out afterward, that alone might be worth going there. Personally, I'd go for it.
Another alternative would be to ask when you buy your maple if they can cut your veneer for you. My local hardwood supplier has a pretty complete milling room and can usually do most anything you want (for an additional cost).

[Chris Barton]

Hi Rick,

You have gotten some great advice so far about useing a band saw vs the TS. I do a fair amount of veneering and will try to address that more specifically. Alan is right about needing thin veneer but, I will go a step further and suggest you soak your veneer in water plus veneer softener prior to glue up so that it will easily make your radius turn. Also, you haven't mentioned what kind of gule technique you plan to use but, I would again suggest you consider hot hide glue for this kind of application. Best of luck with your project.

[Charlie Plesums]

Are there two separate questions (or sets of answers) here?

If you are making the curved aprons, then cutting the apron wood in 3 to 10 layers, gluing, and bending it around a form until the glue dries would be a good way to make the curved apron, and requires the ability to cut wood about 1/8 inch thick. I know one master who does this on a table saw to avoid the need to sand (as you would with most bandsaws). All the pieces could be cut from the same board, or just the outer layer from your "good" board. None of the pieces need to be as thin as veneer. This produces the final surface as well as the curved apron at the same time. This is sometimes called bent wood lamination.

You might use other techniques to make the curved aprons, and then glue on a veneer (which is typically less than 1/24 inch thick). The wording of the original question suggests that this is the approach initially considered. It is very difficult to make home-made veneer that thin - if you were planning this approach, I suggest that you buy the veneer. But I really recommend that you consider the bent wood lamination approach above.

[Dennis Peacock]

Rick,

You "can" cut veneer on the TS, but not very safe if you veneer has to be wider than about 2"...in my experiences. A bandsaw is a LOT safer to cut veneer with than the TS. Now, I may be opening up a can of worms here, but it's just my personal experiences that have taught me to use the BS rather than the TS for cutting veneer.

On a BS for cutting veneer...You'll need a 3TPI by about 1/2" wide blade. Use this type setup if your in a hurry (so to speak) but will require sanding. I also suggest that you use a 1/4" wide blade with 10 to 14 TPI and this will greatly reduce the amount of sanding to get the veneer surface smooth again, BUT...You can NOT be in a hurry with this setup. Resawing is a slow process anyway, and this setup puts you in "super granny gear".

With all the time you'll be investing in just making the veneer? I would be cheaper overall just to purchase your veneer and do like Charlie suggests with a bent wood lamination with your final veneer on the outside.

[Rick Thom]

Thanks all for the suggestions and advice.
Seems BS is a must if I'm going to make it. The woodworking shop in the area has a full line of commercial equipment, mostly General stuff, including sanders so that option is open.
Had considered the laminate approach as well for the substraight. Have to play with that a bit since I haven't tried it before.
Did a stealth mission to nearby Lee Valley store this am with my wife. She suggested good day to get the few things on my Christmas wish list, little did she know that list can and does grow.. hazards of shopping too early maybe...silly girl. Will have to investigate the veneer options there more thoroughly and also glues etc. There just aren't very many decent woodworking supply houses in the Toronto area which is strange for a city of nearly 3M people.
Now that my Harley is tucked away for a while, it's time to get the tools out.

[Lee DeRaud]

With all the time you'll be investing in just making the veneer? I would be cheaper overall just to purchase your veneer and do like Charlie suggests with a bent wood lamination with your final veneer on the outside.Ok, I must be missing something: if he's going to be cutting the thin slices for the bent-wood lam, how much more trouble is it to cut one more slice of "good" wood for the veneer outer layer?