More veneer questions

[John Wagner]

Hi everyone,
I have read with interest the recent answers about veneering and found them quite helpful. I have never done any veneer work at all, short of accidentially glueing a piece of newspaper to the bench top.
I found an article on line that suggest using waterproof PVA yellow glue to veneer. The theory is to put a liberal coat on both the veneer and the substrate, let it dry and then use a hot iron to make the bind.
Has anyone used this method? What are the pitfalls?. What are the advantages? Is it easier,better,harder than using contact cement?

Any and all comments, thoughts and cautions will be appreciated.

John Wagner

[Jamie Buxton]

I've tried that iron-on method of veneering. I found that the heat tended to pull apart the seams between leaves of veneer. I didn't like the gaps, and abandoned the method.

[John Wagner]

Jamie, Thanks for your reply. It seems no one else has tried it, or at least have not replied. The job is so small that there would not be any butted leaves, but your expeerience is enough for me to stay wil conventional methods. John Wagner

[Mike Henderson]

I've done "iron on" veneer but I do it a little bit different. What I do is put the PVA on the substrate (and maybe on the veneer - it depends on the veneer) and iron it before the glue dries. That is, I use the iron to dry the glue.

Don't use too much glue or it will take too much heat and time to dry the glue.

I did a complete table top one time before I had pressing equipment. Put some glue on part of the substrate and iron the veneer on. Then raise the unglued veneer, put some glue on it, and iron that on. Repeat until the whole surface is glued.

This will ONLY work with very well behaved veneer, or paper backed veneer. It will NOT work with fancy veneers.

The technique you describe is suppose to work but I've had trouble when I tried it. White glue is suppose to work better because it has a lower release temperature (about 185*F) compared to yellow glue.

But pressing does a better job and is quicker. If you have a small panel to glue, I would recommend making a couple of small torsion boxes to do the pressing. They're good to have around the shop - You'll find that you'll use them a lot for one thing or another.

Mike

[added note] Like any new woodworking process, try it on some scrap first, so that you'll know how your veneer reacts to the heat. If it doesn't work, you won't have ruined your primary project.