In this video I show the process to bend veneer against (bend perpendicular to the grain) the grain about a 1.25” radius using an iron and the PVA glue technique.
Wow, this one little video has just opened up a bunch of doors for me. Number one, I had no clue you could bond dried wood glue with heat. Number two, all the damaged 1940's waterfall furniture and console radios that I've passed over are now eligible for repair. Number three, knowing this technique I can now incorporate curved veneer with grain perpendicular to the curve into the designs of new builds. Thank you for sharing!!
Thanks for posting this process. I have been looking for a good way to repair vintage radio cabinets with waterfall curves at top front of cabinets. 👍🏻👍🏻
This video worked perfectly for me. followed step by step and turned out great! Also worked for concave corner, used a hair straightener instead of the iron for that.
I use a cloth, but my iron is much older and doesn't have the teflon coating on the bottom. Never tried bending it like this before though. I need to bend some at a 45 degree offset for some trim pieces on a 1930's RCA K-80 console radio.
I want to do the same thing on an ogee molding. (Has both a convex and a concave curve, all within a distance of 2”). Is there an iron out there for the concave part?
Bro, thanks for this video, it's very revealing for my current project. Now, what about a video about overlapping cut between layers? Subed by the way...
Good thing I didn't know you aren't supposed to be able to do this. This is how I did the veneer on my concrete speakers.😂 a little steam from the iron will also help soften it
I'm not sure but it could, the power of this technique is that the heat melts the PVA glue and it softens the veneer, I'm not sure how the contact cement would react to the heat and I don't think the contact cement would stick enough to deal with the bending forces. Worth a shot on a test piece
What do you think of bending veneer, cross grain, from a top surface sharp turn 90 degrees down to edge in one piece, i.e., to avoid putting on edge strips?
I have not, you’d need to find a way to press it down to/o burning your hand, a heat gun and clamping jig to heat up the veneer and cabinet till the glue melts then clamping it and letting it cool would likely be the best way, give some stiff a try like I did here 👍🏼
Javad, I think we might be kindred spirits! I'm similarly interested ( perhaps obsessed ) with speaker building. FWIW, There is some good reason to use Titebond I for this technique. It has the lowest emulsification temperature of all the Titebonds. I don't have the data in front of me, but at one time did some testing and, particularly with Titebond III, found the emulsification temperature was slightly beyond what the iron could achieve.
Hey Peter, very cool! I haven’t used T3 but T2 works very well and I’ve heard T1 does as well, T2 bonds almost instantly and that’s what I use for most of my wood working so I always have some in hand. If you’re interested check out my speaker building Facebook group called DIY Loudspeaker Project Pad, lots of good obsessed and talented people there ☺️
@@javadshadzi4824 Ugggh. Now I have three reasons to be on Facebook...perhaps I'll cave in. It's a attraction/repulsion kinda thing for me, but I'm getting closer to acquiescing.
Kent Croy key is actually bonding it, this method could be used with veneer softener but I didn’t find it necessary with this radius, likely with smaller radii
Thanks for sharing, will definitely use it. Perhaps you, or anyone else, can help me on how to veneer a flat mdf with a 45 degree bevel in one go without having the veneer to crack?! Thanks
You’ll need lots of practice, you’ll need to cut the corner out of the bevel, easiest way to do this is make one cut down the middle, overlap the pieces flat on the substrate and make one cut through both flaps on the top of the bevel transition, then remove the excess pieces and glue.
That works for the outside part of the curve. What if i want to bend it in the inside part of the curve? I hope you get what i mean.. sorry not really good with explaining it..
It’s much easier to do as the veneer likes bending with the grain. Just be careful, raw I backed veneer can crack in either direction, paper backed veneers do well and usually don’t have issues. Sometimes a veneer will crack with the grain, so do a test before the final if you want to be careful.
@@javadshadzi4824 Thanks. I'm testing the half inch round on a 2x4 and will make sure the Jatoba wood will take it. (Why Jatoba? I have no idea.) I plan to do two vertical half rounds on the front panel of a CSS Chriton kit and do a horse shoe bend around the sides. Also from looking at an Acoustic Energy 500 speaker I got the idea to do a half round across the top and bottom at the back of the speaker and making another horse shoe piece covering the top back and bottom in one piece. I should get a decent grain match on the top and pretty good on the bottom. The back will just have to tun horizontally but then, it's the back. I didn't like the four pointed corners on the speakers. I can just see me bashing one and a nightmare MDF/veneer repair. I like the idea of rounded corners and I just think it looks better.
@@javadshadzi4824 By the way, I am a router novice and was having trouble managing my small Makita Router. Then I spotted a base attachment on Amazon that allow you to enlarge the base and add a couple control knobs for more prices movements. Clear plexiglass like bass for visibility. It should allow me to handle it with more confidence. Simple enough to make one yourself but no time. www.amazon.com/Daves-Acrylic-Compatible-Cordless-AMERICA/dp/B086WP62QD/ref=sr_1_3?crid=1IRQD1QLB8QK&dchild=1&keywords=daves+router+base&qid=1621308938&sprefix=Daves+router+base%2Caps%2C214&sr=8-3
Correcting myself. My palm router only handles 1/4" shank bits so 1/5" radius is the upper limit on radius and after looking at things I think a one inch radius would be more appropriate. I'm not buying another router so back to angular corners. Sigh.
Once you heat the surface with the iron its very important to burnish the surface as it cools! Use the edge of a 2x4 until it cools otherwise, your bond will have air pockets.and on your video you can see the edges are NOT adhering properly.
This absolutely isn’t necessary or even needed, light pressure from the iron is all that’s needed to get a strong bond. What you describe, veneer scraping, is needed for contact cements to get a good bond, the iron on PVA glue method bonds through heat and melting alone.
Give a product called heatlock a try for veneering. It works great heat activated, you can position the pieces without them adhering like a contact cement. Great product
"if you want to conform" to the holiday. What in the angsty teen fuck kind of intro was that? Maybe people have fun celebrating and showing their love.
Wow, this one little video has just opened up a bunch of doors for me. Number one, I had no clue you could bond dried wood glue with heat. Number two, all the damaged 1940's waterfall furniture and console radios that I've passed over are now eligible for repair. Number three, knowing this technique I can now incorporate curved veneer with grain perpendicular to the curve into the designs of new builds.
Thank you for sharing!!
Absolutely, glad this was interesting for you!
Thanks for posting this process. I have been looking for a good way to repair vintage radio cabinets with waterfall curves at top front of cabinets. 👍🏻👍🏻
Javad - thank you for a GREAT tip on bending veneer - much appreciated!
This is great. I have a desk I'm going to be building soon and this is exactly what I was trying to figure out. Thanks for the video.
Glad I could help!
Such a good video. Was looking for this exact information and here you got it
Great video - got me thinking about using this technique for veneering over a compound dome shape.
Exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!
Excellent video. Thanks for sharing.
Great tip, heat bonding dry pva is a new one to me .
This video worked perfectly for me. followed step by step and turned out great!
Also worked for concave corner, used a hair straightener instead of the iron for that.
Standard paper backed, 10 and 20 mil I believe
How - awesome work, much better than the sticky spray, hope you get it right the first time approach
Tha is for this video! Totally saved my bacon on a subwoofer build with rounded corners on the front baffle.
Awesome!
Thank you it was really helpful
Very informative,thanks...
I use a cloth, but my iron is much older and doesn't have the teflon coating on the bottom. Never tried bending it like this before though. I need to bend some at a 45 degree offset for some trim pieces on a 1930's RCA K-80 console radio.
I want to do the same thing on an ogee molding. (Has both a convex and a concave curve, all within a distance of 2”). Is there an iron out there for the concave part?
Bro, thanks for this video, it's very revealing for my current project. Now, what about a video about overlapping cut between layers? Subed by the way...
If you use a wet cotton cloth, you can get the steam to wet the wood and make it more pliable. You can do 1" radius with that method.
Genius!
Thanks. Building a set of speakers and researching this very subject. I'll let you know how it goes. Planning on a 1" radius.
Sounds good keep me posted
How did it go?
BOOM! Shake the room.
Good thing I didn't know you aren't supposed to be able to do this. This is how I did the veneer on my concrete speakers.😂 a little steam from the iron will also help soften it
Great video. Would this work with contact glue if it is left to dry first?
I'm not sure but it could, the power of this technique is that the heat melts the PVA glue and it softens the veneer, I'm not sure how the contact cement would react to the heat and I don't think the contact cement would stick enough to deal with the bending forces. Worth a shot on a test piece
@@javadshadzi4824 thanks. I will go and buy some paper and give it a go. Want to try this on a window sill
What do you think of bending veneer, cross grain, from a top surface sharp turn 90 degrees down to edge in one piece, i.e., to avoid putting on edge strips?
No problem at all, see this video where I wrap a whole box in one piece cross grain.
th-cam.com/video/57dPyXI8egY/w-d-xo.html
Have you tried an inside corner with a curling iron? I have a guitar headstock to do with a slight 1" radius or so.
I have not, you’d need to find a way to press it down to/o burning your hand, a heat gun and clamping jig to heat up the veneer and cabinet till the glue melts then clamping it and letting it cool would likely be the best way, give some stiff a try like I did here 👍🏼
Javad, I think we might be kindred spirits! I'm similarly interested ( perhaps obsessed ) with speaker building. FWIW, There is some good reason to use Titebond I for this technique. It has the lowest emulsification temperature of all the Titebonds. I don't have the data in front of me, but at one time did some testing and, particularly with Titebond III, found the emulsification temperature was slightly beyond what the iron could achieve.
Hey Peter, very cool! I haven’t used T3 but T2 works very well and I’ve heard T1 does as well, T2 bonds almost instantly and that’s what I use for most of my wood working so I always have some in hand.
If you’re interested check out my speaker building Facebook group called DIY Loudspeaker Project Pad, lots of good obsessed and talented people there ☺️
@@javadshadzi4824 Ugggh. Now I have three reasons to be on Facebook...perhaps I'll cave in. It's a attraction/repulsion kinda thing for me, but I'm getting closer to acquiescing.
@@carbidetooth I hear you, but you can easily control who and what you see, and how much you share, our group will be worth it ☺️
Hi Javad, this was exactly wha I was looking for! quick question: how thick is the veneer? 2 mm or more?
Great, thanks! This is standard paper backed veneer, not sure on the exact thickness but thin, 1mm or less, I believe 1/40th of 1 inch. or .635mm
Nice! Have you tried this with raw veneer?
I have not but it will work the same
Veneer softener works well
Kent Croy key is actually bonding it, this method could be used with veneer softener but I didn’t find it necessary with this radius, likely with smaller radii
Good tips Javad. Let us know how it holds up long term.
Thanks for sharing, will definitely use it.
Perhaps you, or anyone else, can help me on how to veneer a flat mdf with a 45 degree bevel in one go without having the veneer to crack?! Thanks
You’ll need lots of practice, you’ll need to cut the corner out of the bevel, easiest way to do this is make one cut down the middle, overlap the pieces flat on the substrate and make one cut through both flaps on the top of the bevel transition, then remove the excess pieces and glue.
That works for the outside part of the curve. What if i want to bend it in the inside part of the curve? I hope you get what i mean.. sorry not really good with explaining it..
What if I want to bend veneer parallel with grain?
It’s much easier to do as the veneer likes bending with the grain. Just be careful, raw I backed veneer can crack in either direction, paper backed veneers do well and usually don’t have issues. Sometimes a veneer will crack with the grain, so do a test before the final if you want to be careful.
Cool. I'm going to do 1/2 with the grain so should be easy. Nervous on first one but taking my time.
Cool! Keep me posted, message me if you'd like, I recommend doing some tests until you're comfortable and confident
@@javadshadzi4824 Thanks. I'm testing the half inch round on a 2x4 and will make sure the Jatoba wood will take it. (Why Jatoba? I have no idea.) I plan to do two vertical half rounds on the front panel of a CSS Chriton kit and do a horse shoe bend around the sides. Also from looking at an Acoustic Energy 500 speaker I got the idea to do a half round across the top and bottom at the back of the speaker and making another horse shoe piece covering the top back and bottom in one piece. I should get a decent grain match on the top and pretty good on the bottom. The back will just have to tun horizontally but then, it's the back.
I didn't like the four pointed corners on the speakers. I can just see me bashing one and a nightmare MDF/veneer repair. I like the idea of rounded corners and I just think it looks better.
@@javadshadzi4824 By the way, I am a router novice and was having trouble managing my small Makita Router. Then I spotted a base attachment on Amazon that allow you to enlarge the base and add a couple control knobs for more prices movements. Clear plexiglass like bass for visibility. It should allow me to handle it with more confidence. Simple enough to make one yourself but no time. www.amazon.com/Daves-Acrylic-Compatible-Cordless-AMERICA/dp/B086WP62QD/ref=sr_1_3?crid=1IRQD1QLB8QK&dchild=1&keywords=daves+router+base&qid=1621308938&sprefix=Daves+router+base%2Caps%2C214&sr=8-3
Correcting myself. My palm router only handles 1/4" shank bits so 1/5" radius is the upper limit on radius and after looking at things I think a one inch radius would be more appropriate. I'm not buying another router so back to angular corners. Sigh.
Did your 1/2" radius work ? I'm about to do a set of CSS Critons. I've put a 3/4 on it and would like to stick with that.
Has anyone tried a full 90 degree bend this way? Thanks.
Basically what I did here, but yes also here: th-cam.com/video/57dPyXI8egY/w-d-xo.html
These are 1/16in veneers?
No that’s very thick, this is standard paper backed veneer, 1/40th inch thick I believe
Once you heat the surface with the iron its very important to burnish the surface as it cools! Use the edge of a 2x4 until it cools otherwise, your bond will have air pockets.and on your video you can see the edges are NOT adhering properly.
This absolutely isn’t necessary or even needed, light pressure from the iron is all that’s needed to get a strong bond.
What you describe, veneer scraping, is needed for contact cements to get a good bond, the iron on PVA glue method bonds through heat and melting alone.
Mamnoon
Give a product called heatlock a try for veneering. It works great heat activated, you can position the pieces without them adhering like a contact cement. Great product
"if you want to conform" to the holiday. What in the angsty teen fuck kind of intro was that? Maybe people have fun celebrating and showing their love.
Just a little sarcasm, I celebrate it too so don’t get too worked up 😆