Manual feeding: when, why and how to do it

Hand-furnishing is a way of repairing a piece of furniture or increasing the value of a piece of furniture made from wood-based panels or even wood of a less valuable species. The topic also came from you, those interested in the topics presented in the magazine. This time the question was about hand veneering and the adhesives that can be used. I promised to elaborate on the subject and so the article below resulted.

Furnishing, the relatively simple solution to increase the value of furniture

Veneers, like finishes, can be used to increase the value of a piece of furniture. It's not hard to see how a piece of Chipboard, MDF or plywood that has veneer applied. The vast majority of furniture buyers cannot tell the difference between solid and veneered furniture. And if the furniture, instead of being veneered, is edged, very few people will see the difference between the veneer design and the solid edging, being convinced that the furniture is solid. I say this precisely to understand how important well-made veneer is.

Surprising, at first glance, is the veneering of the massif. Why veneer a piece of solid furniture that is, by definition, more valuable than a veneered one? To increase its value. Using veneer of a higher grade (nuc, mahon, oak) or with certain effects (palindromes, walnut root, inlay) the furniture will be ennobled. But that's not the only reason. Solid wood has different weights depending on how dense it is. Walnut and oak are much heavier woods than linden or poplar, for example. Furniture made of lime or poplar veneered with walnut will look like walnut furniture, but is much lighter. If in a bedside table or a wardrobe the weight is not so important, in a 4 m long table or a 5 door wardrobe the difference will be significant.

The solid wood is also veneered for easy finishing. A sawn timber such as poplar, it stains more easily. Oak veneer or cherry will be much easier to finish and the result will be better.

Furnishing as a DIY project

Manual supply is done, for example, to repair an old piece of furniture. Over time, the glue with which the veneer was glued ages and peeling occurs. It can be glued back in place or, if it breaks, it can be repaired using a small piece of veneer. Sometimes, however, the surface is so damaged that the veneer has to be replaced completely.

Using hand veneering can embellish some objects. One material used a lot in DIY projects is plywood. It can be used to make small jewellery boxes, but also poles, shelves or even cabinets. All these objects can be veneered for a more attractive look.

But how to do this to get beautiful surfaces without bumps or defects? Industrial veneering is done in special presses and no air bubbles remain under the veneer to spoil the appearance. Veneer sheets are fastened with special wire (fusible thread) that holds them together and so no defects occur (leaks - the veneer sheets are pressed apart leaving the backing partially uncovered).

When you work at home or in the workshop, you don't have the facilities of a factory at hand and you need to find solutions that are as simple as possible. The simplest 'hot press' used for DIY projects is an iron. It's used for edgebanding, but also for repairing damaged veneer on a table corner.

When the parts you want to laminate are larger or more complicated and the laminating is done "cold" (the adhesive does not need high temperature to cure) then you need :

• trafficables for applying the adhesive and for pressing the veneer onto the substrate (removing air bubbles);
• wood glue (aracet type), D1 or D2 if the object is to be kept indoors in a damp-proof environment, D3 or D4 for objects in environments at risk of moisture (bathroom, kitchen) or those used outdoors;
• clamps for fastening the veneer until the adhesive hardens;
• cutter for cutting veneer and straightening edges.

Recommendations for the successful veneering of a panel

The veneer sheets you will buy in specialist shops are not very wide and are sold in packs. When veneering a large piece you will first need to 'build' a veneer sheet the size of the panel. The bundled sheets are in the order they were cut in the factory, i.e. they come from the same piece of wood. Putting them one after the other will produce a sequential design. If you put them one after the other, but one on the front and one on the back, each sheet will be followed by its mirror image.

To build the panel size sheet the veneer is cut to size, laid sheet to sheet and glued with paper tape. After veneering it can be easily removed. If the sheets do not fit perfectly lengthwise and gaps remain between them, they should be straightened with a cutter.

To follow the veneer design it is very important not to get the sheets mixed up. That is why it is recommended to number them before cutting. The numbers should be written in 3 places on the same sheet (top, bottom and middle). This way, if pieces remain after cutting, they can be used for other projects.

After the veneer sheet has been built up the adhesive is applied. The recommended adhesive is the aracet type, but other adhesives (polyurethane, epoxy) can also be used. In the case of polyvinyl acetate dispersions (aracet type), however, the setting time is longer and allows time for the veneer to be perfectly laid on the panel. Pre-primed adhesive is not recommended because it requires a solvent evaporation time (open phase), after which the reaction is quite fast and defects can occur. In addition, pre-gel is an adhesive based on chlorine compounds which have been banned for some time in the EC.

Apply the adhesive evenly with a trowel to the side without paper tape. It is then placed on the panel and the air bubbles are removed again using a squeegee, clean this time, which is walked over the entire surface. A straight panel is then placed on top as a press and the whole thing is clamped until the glue hardens (min. one hour or as long as the manufacturer recommends). In countries like the US, Canada, I've seen vacuum bags to perfectly bond the veneer to the panel and eliminate bubbles. They are just like the ones used for food or storing clothes. I've looked for them in our country too, but haven't found any.

Before using the adhesive make sure it reacts cold. There are also hot melt adhesives. In the case of recommended adhesives (aracite type), increasing the temperature decreases the time needed for curing. This is why in some cases an iron is used for bonding. The iron should not be hot but only warm. If hot melt adhesives are used then a higher temperature is required. In this case it is best to protect the wood with a cloth.

After the adhesive has cured, remove the clamps, the panel used as a press and the paper tape. The surface is sanded white and ready for finishing. The panel can be veneered in the same way on both sides.

Manual feeding is not a simple operation and needs a lot of patience. But if you manage to veneer a panel yourself and then finish it, the satisfaction will be great. I tell you from experience. Good luck!