rmac Posted January 12, 2012 Report Share Posted January 12, 2012 If you glue a thin veneer to a stable substrate (like MDF), the veneer will want to move with changes and humidity and such, but it won't be able to because (being thin) it can't generate enough force to overcome the glue that's sticking it to the MDF. So far, so good. Now if you glue a thick board to a stable substrate, and the baord decides to move, something has to give. Either the glue joint will fail or the wood will split or some other bad thing will happen. Not so good. So the question is, how thin does a veneer need to be so that you don't have to worry about movement issues? Can I get away with gluing say a 1/4" thick solid wood veneer to a piece of MDF? How about 1/8"? 1/16"? Is the outer veneer on hardwood plywood as thin as it is because of wood movement issues, or is it because they're trying to minimize their use of the good stuff? -- Russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwacker Posted January 12, 2012 Report Share Posted January 12, 2012 Ive never heard of any hard evidence that they have to be less than a specific thickness. I think 1/4 is to thick, I generally go 1/8 then pass through the drum sander trying to get 3/32. Don 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beechwood Chip Posted January 12, 2012 Report Share Posted January 12, 2012 I'd guess that, like anything having to do with wood movement, it depends on width (cross-grain). And species. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwacker Posted January 12, 2012 Report Share Posted January 12, 2012 I'd guess that, like anything having to do with wood movement, it depends on width (cross-grain). And species. The idea behind veneer is so that it is so thin that it cant hold enough moisture to allow any measurable change. One reason you want to start with real dry wood because it can shrink real quick but will not expand. Don Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duckkisser Posted January 12, 2012 Report Share Posted January 12, 2012 would air dried wood change less then kiln dried because it has more moisture? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AceHoleInOne Posted January 15, 2012 Report Share Posted January 15, 2012 Kiln dried wood is more stable. Air dried wood cells aren't as compressed or collapsed in on themselves like kiln drying. So air dried wood moves more. Isn't why veneers don't move is due to the glue that is absorbed into the wood actually stabilizes the wood? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmac Posted January 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2012 FWIW, I spent some quality time with Google looking into this further. I never found anything definitive, but the general drift lined up with what dwacker said ... 1/16 to 1/8 is about as thick as you want to go. -- Russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duckkisser Posted January 17, 2012 Report Share Posted January 17, 2012 you could do a bunch of test cuts that are different thicknesses and then set somewhere to see what they do over time. going to take you a while but it will be good information. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.