In Reply to: Re: Veneering isn't so bad. Listen up! posted by NEO on July 12, 2002 at 10:02:01:
Hide glue; flakes or pearls of yes, hooves and such, has been around forever. You soak the pearls in about twice their volume of cold water until they dissolve and then pour off the excess water, heat the goo to 150 degrees and use it when a little glob sticks your fingers together. It's amazingly sticky as it cools and therefore requires no clamping. Some areas have to be persuaded to lay flat with a hot iron. The veneer is easily removed with moist heat and instantly rebonds as it cools; very forgiving stuff.
Okay, the bad news. Overheated it smells like a horse died in your shop. It's messy. It requires some pushing and shoving. And although it has high initial tack, it doesn't have that POOF! bond of contact.I let myself forget how nice it is and it's been many years since Gramps had me brewing it up. Wish I had used it on the quilted maple when I first built the 4's. Oh well.
Use contact on paper-backed veneer and no worries. Difficult crotches and burls respond well to Barge Cement which is contact with toluene added and sold through leather craft shops in small quantities. But, when contact bleeds through smooth, fine-grained veneer with no place to hide and only lacquer thinner will clean it up, there goes the bond!
Hide, OTOH, wants to have both sides of the veneer coated and the dry glue scrapes off like a breeze. In fact, the proper method is to coat the substrate with the glue, put the face of the veneer in it and then turn it over and set it in place. Using a veneer hammer you squeeze the excess out of the joints and edges with the glue on the face acting as a lubricant.
The forgiving nature of the stuff allows you to double cut seams, something not to try with contact.Because it so thoroughly wets the wood, you need to tape and tack the seams to keep them from shrinking open as they dry.Use veneer tape which is thin gummed tape, not masking tape which will pull away fibers and ruin the joint when removed.
Gosh, the things you can still remember as you age! And of course the book I mentioned really helped.
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