Another question about veneering

Guys, I have 32 sq ft of ribbon striped mahogany veneer.  I used to use this stuff over MDF cabinets.  It is from Oakwood Veneer and they say their stuff is made to be used by furniture and boat builders. 

I'm wondering if I can veneer the entire top deck of my MC 16.5?  Maybe it is a total waste of time and the $100 the roll of veneer cost.  It would definitely make a pretty deck and it would also cover the nails.  I'm not sure if 32 sq ft is even enough.  Has anyone else veneered their deck?

BTW, the way I've veneered speaker cabinets is using a foam roller and yellow wood glue.  Roll the wood glue onto the MDF cabinet and allow it to dry to a glossy and slightly tacky finish.  The same thing is done to the backside of the veneer.  A hot iron is used to press the veneer onto the MDF box/cabinet.  Something like a piece of cloth is placed between the iron and the veneer for scorch protection.  This heats up the yellow wood glue on the MDF and the veneer and they are bonded.  Since the deck of a kayak is curved, this method may not work.

After typing all of that, I've almost convinced myself to not do it.  If it doesn't work, I'll have a mess and would probably have to paint my deck to cover up the mess.  Maybe, I'll just try an inlay of some sort.


14 replies:

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RE: Another question about veneering

I've wondered the same thing about applying a veneer to the deck after it's stitched together.  The only veneering I've ever done is the iron-on kind on the edges of furniture I've built, so you are way ahead of me if you've applied it on cabinets.  This web site has some ideas about how to apply veneer to large objects (evidently a vacuum press is used for smaller objects), including curved surfaces (fill a pillow case with sand and drape it over the curve). I'm sure there are other sources of information online

http://www.joewoodworker.com/veneering/no-vacuumpress-veneering.htm

 Let us know how it works if you try it!

RE: Another question about veneering

Judging by this Mantunuck, it's quite possible to veneer a curved deck. Let's see if the builder is lured in by the subject line to give his advice.

Laszlo

RE: Another question about veneering

As usual Laszlo cracks me up! That is a nice looking kayak. I think the owner used regular Tightbond yellow glue on this one. Since the deck is bookmatched he had to glue down one side at a time, holding it down with tape around the sides and 3/16" luan with weights on top to conform to the curve of the deck. That worked well on this concave deck but would be a bit more difficult on the MC convex deck. Sandbags would work, or you could cut a piece of luan the size of the deck and use straps over it to hold down the deck. The iron-on method described above for cabinets might work as well. As far as 32 sq. ft. covering the deck, a 16' boat 2' wide would take 32 sq. ft. Since your boat has tapered ends it should be enough veneer. You didn't give the dimensions of the veneer but I'm assuming you'll have to do some piecing together. Give it a dry run first to see how difficult it would be to get the veneer to conform right. I'd personally not want to ruin a hundred buck piece of veneer.

George K

p.s. Laszlo, it's cold and windy here at Edward's.

RE: Another question about veneering

George---What type of wood would you quess, did the "owner" use--it is awsome

RE: Another question about veneering

Thanks George.  My veneer is a 4x8 roll and the yellow glue I used onmy previous veneer projects was also Tightbond from Home Depot.

RE: Another question about veneering

CZ,

Thanks. The veneer is walnut burl.

George K

RE: Another question about veneering

George,

I guess that means that the April 5th date is holding and the leaky helium valve is not a problem. (Life sure is simpler with okoume and paddles, though usually not as exciting).

BTW - what you're describing as "cold & windy" (sunny, high 60's, mid 70's, with wind gusts staying below 20 mph) is paddling weather for those of us outside of Florida. Need to get some antifreeze into you.

Enjoy getting re-acquainted with your jackrabbit friends.

Laszlo

 

RE: Another question about veneering

George,
Was your veneer paper backed?  I can get a piece of unbacked burl but I have never used unbacked before.

RE: Another question about veneering

Jeff,

I never use paper-backed veneers. I get all mine from B&B Rare Woods. I don't know that there would be a problem with using the paper-backed ones, they would just be thicker. Should work for a deck.

George K 

RE: Another question about veneering

Thanks George,

I had a feeling the unbacked would be better.  I assume it is more fragile than the backed stuff.  But, I can get some unbacked at a good price and I'm going to use it on my deck.

RE: Another question about veneering

Hi,  I'm looking for a progress report from jeffh (or George K of course) about success of veneering decks.  I'm doing a Wood Duck 12 and at the moment there is absolutely no thin Sapele plywood on the West Coast (shipping from the East Coast costs more than the plywood!)  So, I'm vascillating between staining the middle deck panels (stain, then put on a light epoxy coat to protect while building - need to be careful sanding seams, but seems fairly simple) and veneering.  I've done lots of staining, but never veneer.  I have no clue about different methods, but it seems like you guys suggest using yellow (I'm assuming standard wood?) glue and either rolling/weighting or using the let dry/iron on method. 

jeffh - did you try the iron on method for the entire deck?  Did you use paper-backed veneer?  Paper-backed seems more plentiful in the local stores.  Any thoughts?  Of should I just stick with staining it for the contrasting color? If I veneer would it be easier to do the entire top deck or just as easy to do the middle panels?

Thanks,
Kathy

RE: Another question about veneering

Kathy,

This is a bit offf topic, but what sort of prices did you get for shipping plywood to the west coast?  I am planning a build from plans and I was thinking I would just order all, or at least most, of the materials from CLC.  Maybe I'll think I've run into a buzz-saw when I get the shipping price.  I have been thinking that the shipping cost should be similar to that for the kits.  Any comments?

Paul

RE: Another question about veneering

The quotes I've gotten on shipping on a 4 x 8 sheet of plywood across the country is in the $100-150 neighborhood, depenging on where it's going, primarily because it has to ship freight.  The plywood is around $100 for Sapele (plus shipping of course).  I talked with one supplier who said that if it could be cut to combined dimension (girth plus length) of less than 130 inches, the pieces could be shipped UPS for about $30 or so.  So, if you know the layout of your pieces and they can fit on a smaller piece of plywood with appropriate dimensions, that could work. 

RE: Another question about veneering

Kathy,

Don't know how Jeff's project turned out but I looked at the WD 12 and I think it would be possible to veneer the plywood before building the boat. There's not that much camber in the decks and the extra layer of veneer would behave like the 3 or 4 mm ply you're going to use. It's a lot easier to glue veneers to flat panels! I had to do mine on the boat as I wanted them to be bookmatched and the Matunuk has weird deck curves. Regular carpenters glue will work fine. I prefer Titebond II (and I didn't get paid to say that). Just make sure you get a good even coverage. I'd suggest using a foam brush and putting a thin coat on the plywwod and the veneer. Place it veneer side down on a flat surface covered with waxed paper in case the glue seeps thru the veneer (Sometimes there are pinholes you can't see). Don't want to glue your panels to the floor or workbench! And as I said before I get all my veneers from B&B Rare Woods, and they don't pay me either! They're close to you and shipping won't be that much.

And you are required to post pics, of course! Let me know if you have any other questions.

George K

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