Ever wondered what a timber veneer is and why it is widely used, why not just use solidwood?

This question is regularly debated, after working in joineryfor nearly 20 Years predominantly building interiors for Luxury Yachts. It isimportant for me to point out that I do not favour veneer over solidwood orvice versa, they are both beautiful natural products and both have their place…

In the context of Bespoke Internal Doors they are subjectedto differing amounts of humidity depending on the time of year or even inbathrooms for example, and massive changes in temperature between summer /winter not to mention if you run your heating at 16C at night and 21C duringthe day!!

People underestimate the challenge this presentsmanufacturers to be able to produce a high quality Door which in not onlybeautiful but stable. For this reason we use Veneers. We can balance the panelsto ensure that each side has an equal ‘pull’ as it is the same material whichis the same thickness resulting in a door which is less likely to warp, bow ortwist.

(I am not going to attempt to explain the characteristics ofwood and how it behaves in different ways depending on how it is machined…thatwill be for another day.)

Veneer (previously known as fineer) has been used since theearly 18th Century as a way of making furniture and other woodenproducts more decorative.

There are so many interesting and fun ways to machine timberto produce interesting architectural veneers that we use in our Doors, WallCladding, Stairs and Floors.

Ways of Slicing Veneer

Whilst the techniques for slicing and stitching theseveneers has changed over the years as technology has improved the principleremains the same.

You take a log whether it be Constructional or Decorativeand you slice it to give a veneer that can be pressed, wrapped and formed intoa multitude of products and finishes. The beauty of veneer is it’s ability tocreate different architectural looks just by cutting it differently…

Let me explain…there are 4 main ways of cutting veneer

Quarter Sawn – A very straight grained look, the log is cutat 90 degree angles to the growth rings.

Crown Cut – A decorative figure (Crown), The log is slicedin half and then the veneer is cut parallel to the centre  

Rotary Cut – Gives a very wild inconsistent veneer – Theveneer is effectively peeled from the log by spinning on its axis to produce acontinuous sheet.

Burrs – Are a very decorative veneer and are expensive asthey are taken from a root or the outside of a tree and therefore there is alimited amount taken from each tree. 

Joining Techniques

BookMatched – Any veneerer worth their salt book matches as standard. The veneer isopened like the name suggests “like a book” meaning that each strip is areflection of previous one. This attention to detail gives a beautiful finish.

MirrorMatched – Is used where you are creating very tall panels, in addition to bookmatching the veneer is mirrored to give a continuous pattern

SlipMatched – I rarely use this jointing technique as it does not look as nice asbook matching but does have very little variation across the board whenstaining.

ReverseSlip Matched – This technique is as above but each strip of veneer is glued inthe opposite direction meaning that the board can be used in any direction.

Makingthe most of the log

It is soimportant not to waste the precious commodity wood and therefore all parts ofthe log are used. As you can imagine logs have defects and sapwood, this isknown as a B or C grade veneer and is used to balance the face veneer oranywhere that will not be seen 

Tosummarise in our business producing luxury Internal Doors, Wall Cladding,Stairs and engineered wood flooring we use more veneer over solidwood as it ismore stable and therefore gives a better quality product. It also gives farmore flexibility as it can be tinted, cut in many ways and personalised to allof our customers. 

Of coursewe use solidwood in all of our products in one shape of form but please do notbe naïve and associate beautiful decorative veneered products as beingsub-standard, reserved for cheap flat pack furniture in fact quite the contrary.

Thanks forreading…I hope that you found it informative.

EdwardRhys-Hurn is the editor of this blog and owner or Zakuna Ltd(www.zakuna.co.uk), supplier of Bespoke Internal doors, Staircases, Engineeredwood Flooring and Timber Windows and Doors.