Thread: wood veneer

I just got a box of mixed veneer off of ebay and got to thinking what if I was to glue them together to make a sort of micarta scales with different types of wood. Has anyone done this, or dose anyone have any Ideas?

I've never made micarta but I'm sure you can since it's made out of fabrics and papers. I've seen guys throw in kernels of corn to make a pattern and give a different effect. My concern is that the edges might end up making it look like high-gloss micarta.

I'm trying to dive into the world of veneers here this last week (never used it before) and I wondered if anyone has ever veneered acrylic/lexan scales. You could be the first.

I have made many things with veneer. I have veneered to full blanks and made them into many things. I have also veneered over acrylic, corian, solid wood and metal then formed around it. I have not made scales from them as I didn't like the look, but many liked the items I made from the veneers in fact I had trouble keeping those items around for long before they sold. There are companies who sell blocks of glued veneers even some dyed. They are relatively inexpensive and when you account for time they are much cheaper.

I've had the same idea for a long time, ever since I once saw a TV program about boat building. They were manufacturing all those beautiful wood details inside the boat out of thin veneer and copious amounts of epoxy. The veneer is thin and flexible and can be bent to shape, and then layered thick. It ends up being pretty like wood and about as water resistant as plastic. My idea was to use veneer of the same wood, pretty much like building your own epoxy cured wood without the use of a vacuum machine.

I never tried it tho, let us hear how it works for you if you decide to go through with it.

I like the idea of epoxy.. I am thinking about making a thick scale out of several different strips of veneer and then sanding it down, this way you have a wood rainbow type of effect... dont know if it will work but might be neat.. do you remember the epoxy they used on the show?

No brand name was mentioned, as far as I can recall. They did explain that a lot of epoxy was used, so as to thoroughly soak the veneer. If you have seen the interior wood fittings inside yachts, they will include thin, bent fittings to go in and out of nooks and crannies, and will follow the flow of the interior. The explanation in the show I saw was more geared towards explaining the manufacturing process, it differs in the boating industry since bent wood usually is produced through a heat/bend/clamp process. The side effect to the layering-veneer-epoxy method was that it produced a durable, tough and water resistant wood that both looked good and was well suited for a wet environment. It spurred many ideas.

If you have a West Marine near you, you can get epoxy from them. Or, order it.

West Systems is fantastic epoxy used in fiberglass work. Also used to seal woods in boat construction and make them impervious to water

Get the 105 resin and 205 hardener. West also sells pumps to put on the bottles and measures just the right amount.

But its expensive.

Alternative is T88 aircraft epoxy, used to build and seal aircraft wood (e.g wooden ribs, etc). You can find it from aircraft spruce. Its slower drying but it superb stuff.

I wouldn't use Home Depot stuff on a razor that takes so much work....get the good stuff and it will never fail.

You can coat the whole thing with either epoxy when done, sand and polish to high gloss

Jon

Use a medium or slow set epoxy. Put a generous amount on the front of each layer. Then put it all on a wax paper lined board. Put another wax paper lined board on top then clamp the life out of it. The epoxy will squeeze out but the paper keeps it from gluing to your backing boards. Let it sit for 24 hours to cure. If you don’t have clamps and do have a garage, park your car on the boards. A thousand pounds of pressure will suffice.

Or instead of wax paper, heavy mil garbage bags. The wax paper kinda gets caught in crevasses that often occur

Originally Posted by cannonfodder

Use a medium or slow set epoxy. Put a generous amount on the front of each layer. Then put it all on a wax paper lined board. Put another wax paper lined board on top then clamp the life out of it. The epoxy will squeeze out but the paper keeps it from gluing to your backing boards. Let it sit for 24 hours to cure. If you don’t have clamps and do have a garage, park your car on the boards. A thousand pounds of pressure will suffice.