Need advice on curver front veneered drawers

[Jim Tobias]

I am about to build a couple of side tables and want to put curved/bowed front drawers on them. I plan to veneer the fronts of the drawers and want any advice available about different ways of doing this and also any concerns I should have about wood movement and the veneer.

Thanks for any and all input,

Jim

[Jim Becker]

You can either do a bent lamination for the drawer fronts or use thicker base material and band saw to shape. If you do the latter, leave the "inside" flat until after you veneer the piece. If you do the former using a vacuum bag you can use the same form for the bent lamination as you do for the veneering. In fact, if you are brave you could do the lamination and the veneering at the same time.

In either case, you shouldn't have issue with wood movement and the veneer, especially with the bent lamination.

[Bill Arnold]

Ditto what Jim said.

If you don't have a vacuum press, another consideration is ironing the veneer onto the substrate. Yet another is hide glue, but there's more of a learning curve to that process.

[Josiah Bartlett]

Make the drawers first, then if you didn't predict the springback of the form, you can make the tables follow the curve of the drawers. If you made the tables first you might have to live with slightly mismatched curves.

[Jim Tobias]

Thanks for the help.
I will probably go with the thicker base idea and bandsaw it. I have a veneer vacuum press so that part of it doesn't worry me (at least not yet). I have done some veneer work, just not on curved surfaces and I was also wondering if I should be concerned about wood movement if I used solid wood. I am planning to use poplar for the solid parts of the tables and paint them black. Any problems with using the poplar as the drawer front substrates for the veneer?

Jim

[Jamie Buxton]

Any problems with using the poplar as the drawer front substrates for the veneer?

There's no physical issue with veneering over solid lumber. That's what craftsmen did for centuries before plywood was invented.

One caution... Don't expose the veneer's edge. Especially at the end grain, it can fray and get splintered off over the years. Veneer the curved substrate, but then protect the veneer edge with molding or beading or the like.

Here's a sketch. The drawing is a little sloppy at the corners, but you get the idea.

[Jim Tobias]

Thanks Jamie, I had not thought of the veneer chipping at the edges.
Jim

[Jim Becker]

Unless you are using something really hard to get, I'd suggest that your blank for band sawing the drawer fronts be of the same species (or close to it) as your intended veneer. Using poplar for other components makes sense, but drawer fronts do get a bit of abuse over time and every little nick is going to show in the paint. Or you can do what Jamie suggests...

Since you have the vacuum veneer press, your intended method will be very nice for veneering 'cause as I originally spoke about, you can saw the front and leave the back flat; veneer the piece; and then do the back curve.

[Jim Tobias]

Thanks Jim, how about maple for the drawer front backer? I am using Macassar Ebony as the veneer so I 'm not using solid same species as a backer.

Jim

[Jim Becker]

That would really be interesting contrast, Jim! Are you going to be dovetailing the drawers?

[Jim Tobias]

Maybe I am not explaining the plan very well. I am going to use macassar ebony veneer on the drawer face. After the thoughts about the poplar being soft, I was thinking I would bandsaw maple and then apply the macassar ebony veneer onto the maple. I would probably paint the maple edges balck or band the edges (as Jamie suggested) and then paint that.
I would dovetail the drawers.

More thoughts??

Jim