For my current project, I am thinking I will have to glue a 3″ wide strip of red oak to a substrate. The piece of oak will be 3/8″ thich, so it should move like solid wood. My main question is at that width do I have to worry about expansion and contraction? My gut feeling is I will be fine, but I am not sure how easily I will sleep at night if I only go by my gut.
Thanks for your help,
Brent
Replies
Not sure, but I laminate VERY DIFFERENT woods all the time. I keep the width of the glue up as small as possible, as to width. I have never had a glue failure. I use Tightbond II or III...
I have made two China styled canopy beds with Panga-Panga and Sapele. VERY, VERY different woods. I have watched closely and I see nothing that would upset me. Both woods were quarter sawn I do admit.. Modern glue is wonderful! The post are 96 inches long by 3 inches wide, tapered to the top. Panga-Pange inside with laminated Sapele on each outside edge. They seem to stay as I made them. I would think the quarter sawn makes it forgiving..
Hi, BCD1104 If you can please provide some more information on the project, and a picture. There are a great many people here that can give you better advice on your project. I am not one of them, yet! But working on it!. garyowen
Here is a little more information. I have attached a picture of a bench I recently made that is in the same style as the table I am about to start working on. I have made a few pieces like this in that past, but have always used plywood (bamboo to be more specific). I made the bench by constructing a frame out of birch plywood and the gluing on a the 3/8" thick bamboo "skin". I plan to make the table se same way, but will be using oak as a "skin" rather than bamboo. I considered using oak plywood, but I really want to have the flexibility of solid wood (just in case some of the pieces don't end up flush I don't want to have to worry about sanding through a veneer). I hope this information helps.
Brent
it will move , not as much as a wider board but that is just relative to dimensions. it could crack in time or it could warp the substrate a bit, then again it may not. the odds are that it will move
ron
Thanks to everyone who has replied so quickly.
Brent
At a veneering forum I follow, the general recommendation is to keep veneers to 1/8" or less in thickness, so that they don't try to expand and contract like solid wood. This recommendation applies to gluing veneer to a sheet substrate such as plywood or MDF. The feeling is that a thicker veneer will be more likely to try to expand and contract with moisture content changes, and may break the glue line and/or split. There's no assurance this will happen, but it is possible. You'll have to decide if it's worth the risk.
Will it move?
Hello Brent,
I am by no means an expert, but if I were making a piece like the one you show, I would try to go a bit thinner (1/8 to 3/16) with my veneer. I would also consider using a solid wood substraight, poplar maybe, and vaneer both sides. Looks like a cool project. Good luck.
bcd1104,
I've been doing large (up to 39" x 66") parquet and marquetry tops for many years using pieces 1/8 to 1/4" thick without any failures. I glue the pieces to a quality 3/4" veneer plywood substrate using Tightbond glue. People have always told me "this won't work", but my personal experience tells me it does work. These tops always have the substrate attached solidly to some sort of case work or frame otherwise I'm sure it would warp due the unbalance of having parquet on just one side. Ive tried this technique with thicker parquet pieces and was less than pleased as they was a lot of movement.
If the humidity of the shop where the work was created was low and the humidity of the place where the furniture will reside is high then it will most likely blow up. But in my experience the wood usually shrinks a little.
The photo shows a desk top I did in 1980 and which, according to desk owner, is holding up well today. Probably humidity nuetral. Built in Seattle, resides in Austin.
In your situation it would probably work but there is some risk it will fail, it's up to you if you want to take the gamble.
Good luck, Bret
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled