4 Comments

From what you are saying my guess would be that you may have caused the problem by cleaning up too soon. If it was down flat and you were happy, it was likely a good glue-up. However if you then cleaned the surface with water, even cold water, before the glue was completely dry you could both weaken the glue underneath and cause new expansion in the veneer. This would be a particular problem with a figured veneer. If you had waited until it was good and dry, the iron may have worked better. The only reason for making a slit (I think) would be if the blister was full of glue as would be the case if your glue was too thick / too cool. Your problem was more likely caused by wood expansion over glue that wasn’t completely cured.
Just my opinion. Hammer veneering can be more of an art than a science sometimes. The good thing is you are learning all of this by experiment and not on a piece that needs to be perfect.

I had the feeling it’s all the warm water I used to cleanup.

I had to thin the glue about 3% by volume to have enough time before the gel occurred.

I will try again with no dilution but heating up the substrate with the iron before applying the glue.

The good news is I am gaining more experience. Every time there is something to fix it’s extra bonus in term of learning; a little frustrating but it’s good learning.

Thanks Paul!

Good going guinea pig, keep it up. :)
Were learning through your experiments.
Looking forward to the next installment.

The battle of the hide.
Coming soon to a theater near you…-:)