The glue
I’m using “hide glue” for this process which is also known as animal glue. Yes, it’s literally made from bits of (dead) animal tissue, essentially cellulose. Animal glue has been used for many thousands of years and is perfect for veneering.
The basic process is to hydrate the glue granules with water, head it up to 60-80C and brush it onto the surface. The glue become tacky as it cools (which only take a few seconds). This provides the initial stickiness you need to lay down and position the veneer. Over the next few hours, the glue’s moisture evaporates and it pulls the two pieces of wood together forming a very tight bond.
What I love about it? It’s very forgiving. Just heat it up with a hairdryer or iron and it goes soft again ready for you to adjust.
The problem with it? It stinks!
Hide Glue warming in the pot
The veneering
The piece had lots of twisting grain and knots causing it to “bubble” up in places. Essentially, some parts of the wood had expanded more than others. To soften the wood I used a mixture of water, glycerine and denatured alcohol. I covered both sides of the veneer in this concoction, sandwiched it between two pieces of plywood, and waited. After a few hours, it had decided to give up and was laying perfectly flat. Time to rumble!
Splash on the glue, lay down the veneer, slide it around a little and then use a veneer hammer to push out all the excess glue. The video below shows this process from start to finish.
The result
The table is coming along nicely. Some more finessing and finishing to do and we should be done and dusted.
Dry fit of the table with top