make your own plywood?

contact cement and j roller

For glue, use gravity. When I glued two sheets of particle board together for a workbench top I laid them on the floor and put books, bricks, barbell weights and other heavy stuff on them. Still using it 4 +/- years later.

-- Mark

OK, I'll bite. What is white mahogany?

UA100

I'd look for ready-cut veneer of a suitable face timber, rather than trying to make my own,

Making plywood from scratch is hard, but surface veneering ready-made ply (or MDF) is common practice and some pretty easy veneering. Do both sides equally to "balance" it, or you may get warping problems.

Don't use contact cement. I'ts just about usable for small pieces (although I wouldn't) but for a large piece you'll never get it on straight before it sticks firmly into place. Use hot hide glue instead, the traditional and still the best. The "stick" behaviour as it goes on hot and chills is about the best behaviour I've yet found for veneering. I'd suggest a veneer hammer, rather than a roller, but that's a personal thing.

There, it's said. Each side needs help.

You can use a fiber product for the substrate versus plywood, make for an easier job, and make contact cement a better choice. If you do ply, remember to cross the grain, and hide glue is really a better bet than contact cement there.

It is actually "primavera", a tropical hardwood with no color, sort of like birch. Has the same grain and other characteristics of genuine/"red" mahogany, but is slightly harder. You can stain it any color you want, including traditional "red" mahogany. I like it because it is easy to work with like mahogany, but I'm not limited to the red color characteristics of genuine mahogany. I buy this stuff by the bundle (400-600BF) for $2 BF.

Given that mahogany is firmly in the "Anything we bought from the importer, given a recognisable brand to make it sell" group, then the notion of "white" mahogany isn;t that much of a surprise.

I have "made" ply by gluing thinner sheets together with wood glue, then used cans of paint, water-filled gallon jugs, sand bags, weights, and anything else to weigh them until the glue dried (at least 2-3 days). A vacuum clamp would probably be easier. Another approach is to use contact cement and a J-roller--no clamping with this method.

Andy Dingley

Something I encountered during my "brief" career in the stone business (marbles and granites). Though there it's way worse.

UA100

Careful with only contact cement. It will creep over time. If you use it, use it on the center of the panel and use white or yellow glue for the perimeter. The white/yellow glue will keep the veneer in place.

On Fri, 16 Jul 2004 21:50:32 -0500, "bob" vaguely proposed a theory ......and in reply I say!:

remove ns from my header address to reply via email

If you're going to use contact, and have not worked with it before, practice several times until you get it right 3 X in a row, on something that does not matter, but is a large area as you are doing......

I did not follow that rule and now have a (perhaps unfair) hatred of contact. My father swears by it. I swear at it.