MAGNETIC MESSAGE BOARD

CHAPTER 1

VENEER

It’s Thin and It’s Real

I love veneering. I think it’s a wonderful way of woodworking. It wasn’t always this way. Like a lot of people, I had negative thoughts about veneering and its place in the craft of woodworking. However, during my formal schooling at Rosewood Studio, there were two moments that really opened my eyes. The first was when I realized what “sharp” truly was and how to get there. The second, well, that’s when I was introduced to veneering and bending wood. I was a changed man.

My first official client—by “official” I mean not a family member—was a woman who wanted a small table. She told me she had hired me because she wanted a real wood table and, in her words, “not that fake veneered stuff.” As fate would have it, the design for the piece lent itself to being veneered because the tabletop needed to be permanently attached to the apron and legs. Since I was smitten with veneering, I decided to take a chance.

Upon delivering the table, I told her that I had veneered parts of it. She didn’t believe me and had to touch the table once more while taking a closer look. She must have been happy because the check wasn’t canceled. In fact, she commissioned me for another piece down the road.

While you can buy “fake stuff,” the veneer we are going to be using is absolutely real. It may be thin, but it is very real. And, it’s only thin until you attach it to a thicker piece of plywood or other substrate.