Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Got Wood?

Ya, me too. I have a small Porter Cable laminate trimmer but I will not be able to flush trim the corners of the EP600. They are not 90 deg. I'd have to make some sort of wedge jig to match the angles. Sometimes that works, if you don't run out of bit length.

michael d:
Lee Valley is a great suggestion, even if they are Canadian ;-)
Don't miss out on my favorite toy store, Rockler. Lee Valley's service is awesome, too!

A very good source is "Veneering & Inlay," by Jonathan Benson (Fox Chapel Pub., 2008).

You can rough cut with a blade on a cutting surface, scissors, or my fave, a rotary scissors (looks just like a pizza wheel).

May find them @ some woodworking places/sites, but any decent sewing/fabric store would carry a good OLFA brand one.

I highly recommend the 3M VHB backed veneers for the non-pro (like me). It cuts with scissors for the rough cut; the pressure sensitive adhesive is rock solid once it sets. Then use one of those cheap edge trimmers and you get good edges. Look at the 3/4 inch edge on the towers. You have three edges in the shot (against the cabinet, and two meeting on outside edge), and not much evidence it is not a solid piece of wood. I will warn you that curves on the cutting edge can be problematic, as can non-90 degree edges.

For example, the front of the subwoofer baffle is not perpendicular to the top or sides. Thus the type of trimmer I used had trouble getting a perfect edge. I was not happy with the outcome. Those other trimmer designs might work better, but I would avoid the router based designs. Too much damage potential where a razor will suffice. Can't imaging having a "little" router error on top of your EP sub.

I'll try to find my source data. We had a thread on here about it, but it has been several months.

I see they also have a type of glue you can apply yourself to the raw, or paperbacked veneer then set it with a household iron to activate the bond.

My gifted friend said the iron method does work - and he would not say that about a product that did not give a great finish. But the 3M peel is so easy because you don't have to mess with glue. If you are going with glue, then skip to the pure wood without a backing. But that can be harder as the backing gives you some flexibility.

Have I made my lack of expertise clear enough yet?

Obviously, veneering is a learned skill where results should improve with practise. The one thing I've seen(on veneersupplies.com and similar sites) is that most of my* favourite veneers are in the "raw" type which probably isn't the best place to start learning.

Do the paperbacked veneers come in the various matchings(bookmatched, slipmatched ect) or do you have to match the edges yourself? anyone know?

I think they add the 3M to the veneer on-site, so you could get matched. But some of the exotic stuff does not fit standard sizes I think they avoid trying to add the backing. I want to do a Sapalee speaker soon. Love that stuff.

Thanks guys. I had no idea veneer came in stick on version. I have only seen the solid wood type that's about 1/8" thick.

Bob - I buy from Lee Valley. I agree, great place to shop. I love their pencils and graph paper.

Michael, if you haven't tried already, check out Veneer Supplies. They have lots of info, and some really nice veneers or Google "wood veneer", there's loads of info on the web.

Just finished my last project. It was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be when I said “sure, I can make you one of those honey”. It was supposed to be her Christmas present, missed that, then it was going to be her birthday present, missed that date too, then it was going to be her valentine’s day gift….. ya, missed that one too. Now I’m calling it her belated Christmas / Birthday / Valentine’s Day present.

It’s all red oak and the case joinery is Mortise and Tennon. I built in around the dimension of the jewelry tray inserts I bought from Rockler. I sized the drawer inside dimensions 1/16” larger than the inserts, and then designed it out from there. I got the idea from some mission stile units that were listed on Amazon.

Final fit and glue up.



Ready to stain.



I hate making drawers....



Stained, ready for poly and assembly.



Drawer inserts that started this thing. (NOTE: do not follow the mounting instructions for the lid supports. I did, which is why there are holes on the lid. A mirror will go there to cover them.)