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Decided to do something about my lost veneering skills. Found a book at Woodcraft: Veneering, A Foundation Course by Mike Burton. Real world working advice. And here's a beauty: $90 for a hide glue boiler? Nyet! All drip coffee makers keep water at 150 degrees. Perfect for those horses hooves! Got a Sunbeam at Wal-mart for $12.
do you think a crock pot would work?
Sure. Just check for 150 degrees with a candy thermomabubble. And don't try to make the Martinelli Marinara in it anymore.
I've got some cherry veneer that I'll be putting on my Pi theater 4's. I thought the only way was contact cement and lots of ventilation. What are you guys using ? Tom
If your new to veneering, use the contact cement method.This way you dont need to have full pressure on the veneer surface if using hide clue while it sets. Do not use water based contact cement as it has the tendancy to bleed through the veneer. Use a couple of coats of sealer first, this will aid in the contact cement bond lasting longer.To aid with alignment of the veneer over the substrate,(once both surfaces touch there is no going back !) use slats from an old window blind or small dowels. Start removing them from the center first as you bond the surfaces together and work out to the ends.
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.
Thanks for all the info. I've got the paper backed veneer, so I guess I'll go with the contact cement. The Formica company makes a water based cement that doesn't seem to have as many leathal warnings... my be I'll try that. Have you heard about that? I got it at Lowe's it's called 160 Water Base Adhesive. The directions are the same as the contact cement, but you need to wait 30-40 minutes to dry. Thanks again for your help... Tom
....in New Jersey and the Soviet Socialist Republic of Massachusetts have to use it. Leave it open for at least the recommended time or it will never dry properly. 3M (what else is new?) is reputed to make the best of this type. I'm not familiar with "160" but there's only a few makers and lot's of private labels. If you search finewoodworking.com you will probably find something on it.
The flamable brain cell killing glue is better. plain and simple. The latex was developed to save the planet along with all the other latex and low voc products. A lot of "better for you" products are better than the one they replaced. in this case and especially for veneering, you want to use the solvent based glue. Do use it in a well ventalated area. outside as long as debrise wont fly into the glue line is great this time of year. Veneering is time consuming among other things. just not worth it to spend that much time and have the glue line fail after a short time. Bill