Shop sawn veneer for chess board

[Scott Goldthwaite]

I'm making a chess board with some shop sawn veneer I cut. The veneer is 0.09" thick. Should I edge glue the veneer together, let it dry, then glue it to the MDF substrate? Or should I do that all at the same time?

[Edward Weber]

I have always edge guled the veneers together to ensure proper alignment, then sanded an applied to a substrate.
This method worked for me, others may have different experiences.

[John Kananis]

Depends on the material thickness imho. At .09, you're nearly 3/32" so I would probably edge glue that first. For thinner material (and as long as you're using a vacuum press or similar), you can use veneer tape to hold it all together and just glue down (the glue will make it's easy into the seams all on its own with thinner).

[Jamie Buxton]

On veneer, I believe that the important thing is to get the veneer glued tightly to the substrate. I’m concerned that if I edgeglue the veneer, the pieces will not all be flat to the substrate. So I use veneer tape to hold the veneer pieces together, and put it in the veneer press in that condition. The vacuum squishes all the parts tightly to the substrate