Can I use Elm Burl for a Small Drawer Front?

[Jesse Bushman]

I’m building a couple of night stands (small tables). I have a piece of elm burl. It’s 1-1/4 thick and has some lovely grain. I want to put a single drawer in each table and want to use the burl wood for the drawer front. Each drawer front will be about 14″ wide and 8″ high (it’s arched, so is lower at the edges).
My concern is that once I resaw and surface the one piece I have into two drawer front pieces, they’ll be about 1/2 thick and that seems a bit thin for a drawer front, particularly if it’s burl grain that might not be as durable as straight grained stuff. What do you guys think?
If people have experience with 1/2″ thick burl wood drawer fronts, I could just go with that. Another option I’ve thought of is to cut some thicker veneer on the bandsaw and laminate that onto a piece of walnut as the two woods would be somewhat similar in color and it would give some strength/thickness to it.
Any ideas would be welcome.

[Andrew Hughes]

I would do option b. Laminating to a piece of walnut is a excellent idea. I would glue the full thickness of the burl to the walnut then resaw it off to leave a 1/16 veneer behind.
This is when having a thin bandsaw blade pays off.
Good Luck

[Jamie Buxton]

Yes, you can veneer solid wood on to solid wood. I'd first veneer the top edge of the substrate, and then veneer the front face. That way, the veneering operation is less visible.