desk design and veneer question

[Jack Stein]

It may be, but generally urea resin glue is used for veneer glue up because it allows adjustment and it doesn't creep. I'm no expert on veneering, thats for sure, but my experience in wood work is veneering a desk top with 1/32 resawn homemade veneer is not something to be approached lightly. I can imagine edge gluing 5' lengths of 1/32" resawn lumber and then getting them oriented correctly and stuck on a homemade torsion box with contact cement. I've never done it mind you, but I would think the odds of me getting it right are small, and if I did, the odds of the seams staying tight even smaller. Also, cauls are not good, you generally would want a vacuum press for something like this. All good reasons to go out and by a sheet of plywood, or spend the cash and get some nice solid wood. Just edge gluing thick solid wood, one of the easiest things for a woodworker to do, seems to generate a hell of a lot of discussion here. Veneering is almost another discipline apart from general woodwork. At least he should start smaller, like a jewelry box or something... Besides just trying to get biscuits into the edge of a

1/32" hunk of oak veneer would be a real bitch:-)

[StephenM]

I've tossed out the torsion box idea and have decided to "reveneer" some decent 1/2" plywood. The primary reason that I will not use 3/4" plywood is the paper-thin veneer. When I glue on a 1"x3" perimeter board I can expect my alignment to be +/- 1/64". That's fine for a solid wood top. I can scrape/sand/plane that level. But up against a paper-thin commercial plywood veneer, I fear that bad things would happen when trying to level the top.

I have the wood to do a solid top but I don't think it would stay flat. Normally a 36" wide solid table top is not really a big deal because you have an apron to control and aggregate movement. Unfortunately, this top needs to be separate, so the rest of the desk can't help keep things stable.

As far as the glue is concerned... I'll try some experiments next week and post the results.

regards,

Steve

[Jack Stein]

Good point. I think any veneer surface needs care when sanding, particularly around the edges. Most veneers are 1/32" to 1/64" thick, and when you buy just the veneer, around 1/42" is common. I don't know what HD sells, but it looks ok to me but care would be needed when sanding for sure. In use I would want a durable finish, probably not some danish oil thing, but something that would take the wear and tear of a desk top on its own. Polyurethane is what I'd use... Anyway, the veneer would not be much of a concern to me, more of a concern would be what is between the veneers... Personally, if I were to spend the time building a quality desk, which for me is a lot of time, I would go for the solid Oak top.

Actually, you could probably go with solid wood for about the same price.... I was on vacation at Lake George NY, and to my surprise, right next to where we stayed was Northern Hardwoods. I checked out some red oak for a project I was contemplating, and they had really nice stuff, s3s, for $3.40 a board foot. Thats cheaper than the HD plywood would be. They had 5/4 stock as well, but I forget the price.

I might mention I was at HD last year and noted they had red oak planks. One I looked at was 1x6x16'. It was #1 select, a perfect 16' board. The price marked was pretty cheap. I thought, wow, good deal. I then found out it was priced at the lineal foot, not the board foot, so it was well over double what I ever paid for oak lumber. The quality of HD oak lumber is top of the line at my store, but it is not cheap, neither things one would expect from HD:-)