Veneer Glue

[samoht]

i'm kinda pissed off at the moment.. just messed up a good piece of mahogany veneer. what kind of glue would be good for gluing a thin veneer on a guitar body?

i tried water soluable contact glue because i thought it wouldn't get trough the veneer.. well i was right.. it didn't. but the surface got huge bubbles everywhere and i couldn't get rid of them. so i ended up ripping the whole thing off.. i only have one piece of veneer left, so.. what glue?

i tried the search function before i wrote this post, but all i got was an error message.

Edited October 26, 2004 by samoht

[RGGR]

Might the problem not be your glue, but rather not enough pressure on top veneer piece???

Edited October 26, 2004 by RGGR

[samoht]

i don't think there should be pressure at all when using contact glue. i waited until the glue was almost dry and then stuck the veneer on the guitar.. anyone ever tried a clothes iron on a veneer? i've got some flamed birch veneer that needs to be flattened too...

Edited October 26, 2004 by samoht

[crafty]

I learned how to veneer out of a Popular Mechanics article about twelve years ago. I was in wood shop in high school at the time and it was very helpful. I couldn't find the old article on PM's website, but this article about their 100th Anniversary Dresser has a good tutorial on basic veneering:

http://popularmechanics.com/home_improveme...hogany_dresser/

As they said, try Titebond Extend. Try using a wallpaper roller to squeeze out excess bubbles before clamping, too. It's always best to practice with scrap before you try the real thing, too.

[samoht]

no titebond here where i live. i haven't got that many clamps either. that's why i wanted to use the contact glue in the first place.

thanks for the link.

[Mahelcaya]

Don't know if it will help......

I glued a really thin veneer ( 0.2 mm ) mohogany with regular white vinylic glue ( like titebond), i used a clotes iron slightly warmed up (plugged it in for a minute and let it cool off a little) , and the glue dried out in faster, it worked well for me, took me about 20 min of ironing !

[crafty]

Contact cement WILL work. I mean, it will at least stick down with it. But it's difficult to use because once the veneer is down it's STUCK! It's also more difficult to roll out the air bubbles, too.

You could probably use any woodworking glue--Titebond's just what I've used and what they've used in the article. The veneering tape is also great for making sure the seam doesn't have a gap.

The iron is a good idea, just keep it cool and don't let it sit in one place for very long.

[samoht]

thanks dudes.. i just noticed that i don't even own an iron

btw.. there's no need for using veneer tape since one piece should cover the whole side of the guitar..

[bluespresence]

Off Topic samoht, but please edit your first post....one word only.

Please keep PG "family" oriented. Thanks!

[samoht]

oh sorry

[bluespresence]

No prob! Better to fix it b4 the mods.......Thanks!

[samoht]

i usually don't use that kind of language, but i didn't even notice i did this time..

[Drak]

1) Ironing only works with the aliphatic (yellow) glues, like Titebond, and it's part of a process, you don't just whip out your iron and have at it, there's a whole set of instructions to do that properly. The heat has an impact on the aliphatic glue family, it doesn't work on other glues.

2) If you're going to use contact cement (I wouldn't, but you seem to, or want to, or have to use it) then you should have a J-Bar roller handy to use when flattening the veneer out, anf go very slowly, and don't lay the whole thing down at one time, go a little bit at a time, using the J-Bar to roll out your bumps and humps as you go along.

3) You should be practicing on scrap first until you can apply the veneer with confidence anyway, you were just asking for a disaster trying to do veneer for the first time on a real guitar top in the first place. Veneer isn't something that's very easy to do right out the gate IMO.

[samoht]

thanks.. i really appreciate all the advice i get from you guys. i used a very thin layer of normal wood glue now and it worked perfectly! i had to make it from two pieces though because i ruined the big piece yesterday.. well.. live and learn

[samoht]

i was thinking of using the iron for straightening some very curly veneer before i attempt gluing it.. i'm pretty confident it might work with a little moisture, ironing against a flat board. what do you think? drak?

[Mahelcaya]

I did that before applying the glue on my veneer, I wet the veneer and ironed it , but I repeat the iron was not hot, just warm

[Drak]

No, don't iron it to flatten it.

Take a spritzer bottle with water (and a -little- glycerine if you can find some at your local pharmacy, it's cheap) and spritz both sides and clamp the veneer between two pieces of flat wood.

Ironing dry veneer actually will shrink and crack it if overdone, especially if it's bone dry and bumpy.

If you intend on ironing it on in the first place, then it is recommended that you 'pre-shrink' it with an iron beforehand (nothing severe) by wetting it lightly then ironing it, as if you don't, when you actually do iron it on, your center seam will separate as the iron shrinks the veneer.

If you overdo the iron bit, the veneer can not only shrink between the centerseams, but it can also shrink and separate between grain lines and figure lines in the veneer itself.

I don't iron on anymore, I use a really hard (Maple or Paduak or Rosewood usually) glueboard and just glue and clamp it, with a piece of wax paper between the veneer and glueboard.

I've gotten by -far- the best results this way compared to any other way I've tried.