Is it necessary to veneer both sides of a piece to be used as the side of the upper case of the highboy when using a shop cut veneer 1/8 in thick on the outside surfce when the case will be joined by halfblind dovetails.
- Henry R.
Kennesaw, GA
Veneering
Our Expert
Using shop cut veneers is a great way to add dramatic figure to the "show" surfaces of a piece of furniture. For example, when making drawer fronts for a chest-of-drawers I often veneer the fronts with veneer that I've cut on my bandsaw. Because the veneer sheets were all cut from the same plank the figure on the drawer fronts matches.
To avoid warpage, it is always a good idea to apply veneer of the same thickness to both faces of the stock. This helps stabilize the workpiece by ensuring equal absorption of moisture as the relative humidity fluctuates.
Although you can usually apply veneer to one face of narrow stock with no problems, I suggest that you veneer both faces of boards over twelve inches in width.