Wood Veneer Matching Part 2

Slip Match

While the most common way to match wood veneer tiles or leaves to make up a veneer sheet is book matching, there are alternative ways that can produce either slightly or dramatically different appearances.  Slip matching is not quite as common as book matching, but is still a widely used technique in creating a wood veneer sheet.  In slip matching, the leaves are placed in sequence but every other leaf is not flipped over as in book matching.  The result is a repeating grain pattern for each leaf but the grain does not match at each joint.  This technique will greatly reduce the "barber pole" effect found in book matching.  Slip matching is very commonly used when the wood veneers are quarter cut or rift cut which yields a very straight grain pattern.



Random Match

Yet another matching method to produce wood veneer sheets is called "random match".  In this case, the veneer leaves are randomly selected from a variety of wood logs.  Random matching produces a rather unique and rustic appearance as a conscious effort is made to mismatch the grain at each joint.  Typically, rotary cut veneers are used as the grain pattern in rotary is typically very bold and difficult to match.

Balance Match

Balance matching is an added characteristic in the creation of a wood veneer sheet.  Balance matching requires that the veneer tiles in the sheet are all of uniform width.  There can be either an even or odd number of leaves, which means the pattern may end on one edge.  Other than the way the pieces end on one edge, the sheet is basically symmetrical.

Center Balance Match

Center balance match is a step up from balance matching and is considered the premium way to match tiles in a sheet of hardwood veneer.  Just as in balance match, the leaves are required to be of equal size but there is always an even number of tiles in the sheet.  This results is a seam in the center of the panel and an almost perfect symmetry of the pattern.  Center balance matching is the most labor intensive form of matching and is highly preferred in the production of doors due to it's symmetry.

As illustrated in these examples, wood veneer sheets offer many different faces beyond the differing species alone. The appearance of a wood project can be influenced by the technique used in assembling the tiles of the panel.  Through a greater understanding of these varying methods of matching, woodworkers are able to achieve the exact look they imagined when completing their carefully contsructed work of art.

Post presented by: getgoodwood.com

Wood veneer sheets can present a variety of appearances. The single, most obvious factor that effects the appearance is the species of veneer wood. There are however, less obvious ways to provide additional diversity in the veneer appearance. One of these is the way the veneer leaves, or tiles, are arranged to make up the sheet. Veneer leaves are the smaller slices of wood that need to be assembled and spliced together to make up the full sheet of wood veneer. They can be arranged in a variety of ways to make the face of the sheet unique, even within the same species of wood. Simply put, this all has to do with the assembly process chosen for each individual sheet of veneer.

Book-Matched

Book matching is by far, the most common way of matching veneer leaves together to form a full sheet. This is particularly true with plain slice or flat cut veneers. In book matching, every other leaf is turned over to create a mirrored effect with the grain of each two adjoining leaves, just as two adjacent pages in a book. While this method maximizes the yield of the flat cut leaves, it presents a finishing challenge. Since each piece is flipped, the surface of each leaf reflects light differently. This light / dark variance is known as a “barber pole” pattern. This less than desirable effect is typically much more prevalent in certain woods such as white maple. In addition, the two leaves will take stain differently and result in even more color variation. This effect is to be expected in book matching and is not considered a manufacturing defect.  In our next post we will discuss other matching possibilities and how they can enhance the appearance of your wood veneer.

Post presented by
getgoodwood.com

Quartered and Rift Sawn Wood Veneer

     If you are building a musical instrument, quarter sawn lumber is what you are looking for. When quarter sawing a wood veneer, the log is first cut into quarter sections as seen in the photo and then a slice is taken from each side of the remaining wedge shaped portion of the log alternately. While every leaf of wood veneer taken from the log is not exactly perpendicular to the growth rings of the tree as in rift sawn, it is considered a close enough representation. By cutting the log this way, the result of this wood veneer is a very tight, vertical grain pattern. As a result, the qualities of this cut of veneer wood with it's tight grain is improved strength and stability. This means that there is much less warping due to expansion and contraction with climate change as well as reduced checking and splitting. This makes quarter sawn lumber very popular in the use of most string instruments where any wood movement would be very detrimental.

Quartered White Oak

     The most common species of wood that lends itself to quarter sawing is white oak. When white oak is quarter sawn, the wood veneer will often display a pattern of medullary rays known as fleck. These rays can be seen as subtle wavy patterns displayed across the straight grain. This pattern of rays has made quarter sawn veneers very desirable for many years. While white oak is probably the most common wood that is quarter sawn, it is not the only species that is cut in this fashion. Some other woods that are commonly quarter sawn are red oak, maple, cherry and sapeli.

Rift Sawn

     Rift cutting a log is taking quarter cutting to the extreme. In producing true rift sawn wood veneers, each slice of veneer is cut almost exactly perpendicular to the growth rings of the tree. While this produces an even tighter and straighter grain pattern than quarter sawn, it is also much more wasteful. In order to maintain the perpendicular cut, only small sections of the log can be cut straight out from the center of the log leaving small wedges between each section. These wedges are essentially unusable adding greatly to the waste factor of the log. For this reason, as well as how labor intensive it is to produce rift sawn veneer, this cut of wood veneer is much more expensive and rarely used.You may notice however, that in quarter cutting, the first few slices of veneer that come off the cut would actually be rift sawn and may be set aside and collected as rift cut leaves. Therefore, when someone purchases rift cut wood veneer sheets, there is a chance that what they are getting is a by product of the quarter cut that was being produced but the effect is the same.

Post presented by
getgoodwood.com

Plain Slice/Flat Cut

Probably the most common way to slice a log for the production of wood veneer is plain slice, also known as flat cut as illustrated in the diagram. When producing flat cut wood veneer, the log is sliced across the grain of the wood leaving leaves or tiles that are about 6 to 10” wide. The result of this cut is a very desirable grain pattern as it combines the look of swirling cathedrals and linear straight grain.

The center part of the log or “heart” produces a cathedral of more swirl looking grain pattern while the outer part of the log yields a straighter grain. When combined they produce a resulting veneer leaf that is considered very desirable for its variety.

When slicing the log this way the resulting veneer has what is called a tight side and a loose side. This is a result of the blade traveling across the log and compressing the side that is facing towards the center of the log. This inside face of the veneer is the tight side and the side facing away from the center is considered the loose side. This is relevant to the way the leaves are layed up on a backer and which side is facing out as the two different faces will appear to vary slightly in color. Veneer sheets can be specified as tight side out or loose side out depending on preference.

Flat Cut Veneer Sheet

These leaves are then spliced together to form sheets that are typically 4 or 5 feet wide by 8 or 10 feet long. These sheets are sometimes sold in this “raw” form however, in this state, this veneer sheet is very brittle and hard to handle. For that reason more commonly the next step is to apply a backer of some type to the wood veneer sheet. The backer adds flexibility and stability to the sheet for transporting and manufacturing. A sheet with a backer can then be shipped rolled and in a box.

There are several alternative methods for slicing hardwood veneer that are typically more difficult and time consuming and therefore much more expensive. For those reasons and due to the variety of grain pattern, flat cutting wood veneer seems to have become the preferred method used by many veneer producers.

Post presented by
getgoodwood.com

Wood Veneer Sheets, The Rotary Cut

There are 2 main characteristics that determine the appearance of a wood veneer sheet.  The first is the way the log is actually cut and the other is how the sheet is put together, either one big sheet or separate smaller leaves that are spliced together.

There are several ways of cutting a log to produce the thin wood veneer.  One of the more common ways is called "rotary cut".  This type of cut is achieved by placing the log in a spinning lathe and allowing a long blade to move into the log, thus pealing it like a roll of toilet paper.  The veneer comes off of the log in one long sheet.  This sheet is then cut to length, usually 8 or 10 feet long, leaving a wood veneer sheet that is 4x8 or 4x10.  When this wood veneer is used in it's full form, it is referred to as a "rotary cut, whole piece face".


Though it is slightly more common to cut the original piece to size and use each sheet as a whole piece, there are other ways of creating sheets of these sizes made out of smaller pieces put together. This method is called "rotary cut, spliced face" and allows the mill to cut out defects of the long sheets of wood and splice the best remaining parts together to form a full sheet.  This is probably the least expensive way of producing full sheets of veneer wood.


Post brought to you by getgoodwood.com