Veneer on curves perpendicular to the grain

[David Kenagy]

An OG clock has concave faces on the door rails and stiles, and (obviously) an OG shape for the face frame around the door. For both, the grain of the veneer runs perpendicular to the long dimension of the substrate. In the case of the door, it's a 1/16" deep concave on a 1/2" wide strip. In the case of the OG molding, there's a convex and a concave within the 2.5" width of the molding.

Not having tried this before, I suspect I'll have trouble with breakage on the convex surfaces, or being unable to get veneer down to the bottom of the concave ones.

Am I "over-thinking" this?
Should the veneer be softened (e.g. water)? Make mirror-image clamping pads? Vacuum press? Other advice?

[Jamie Buxton]

I veneer with a vacuum press. If you're using the usual sliced veneer, I would not worry about squeezing veneer into a 1/16"-deep groove that is 1/2" wide -- no matter which way the grain is running.

[Keith Hankins]

well a vacuum press would be optimal, just make sure you have enough HG's to do curves. Second option is a form with lots of mini clamps.