When I first arrived in Australia and started looking for a job as a furniture maker, I found that only a few companies seemed to work with veneer. Veneering was a significant part of my trade qualification and very common among furniture makers in Europe, so I was surprised at apparent supremacy of solid timber work. Don’t get me wrong – I love a sharp-looking dovetailed drawer or a well-fitted through tenon, and I think Australians are very skilled, and lucky with the diversity of timber available to them.
What is veneer?
Veneer is simply thin sections of wood that can be applied to solid timber or substrates such as plywood and MDF. Commercially sawn veneers are around 0.6mm in thickness, while shopsawn veneers are generally thicker and from 3 to 5mm thick.
Using veneer allows you to make the most of rare and/or highly figured timbers, while exploring a host of grain arrangements. Used alone or with
