If you do it on the cheap, you can just throw the crap out when you are done if you find you won't ever do it again. You could for example, cook and heat the glue in the kitchen, take the pot with water bath and jar of glue to the shop, apply the glue and hammer down the veneer with a veneer hammer made from scraps from your wood pile. And one of the best things about it is that if you screw it up, it is completely reversible with heat and moisture so you can try again or simply just remove it.
Another cool thing about HHG is how well rub joints work. When I was first experimenting with HHG and practicing by hammering down some veneer that I cut on my band saw. I also did a few rub joints with some scraps. With no clamping, even after just 15 minutes they were solid enough that I could have proceeded with other assembly if I was using it in a large glue up and after waiting overnight, the simple rub joints I tried were unbreakable. I had to use leverage or a hammer to break them and it was the wood that broke not the rub joints. I actually used HHG for the entire glue up of that mirror above, including some rub joints for brace blocks in corners for reinforcing a few joints. The only real downside to HHG, other than investing in a way to heat the glue and a veneer hammer, is the planning it takes to cook the glue and heat it up in time for the glue up so I only use it when I have a big glue up planned or for veneer. For smaller glue ups I often use liquid hide glue because it shares most of the benefits of HHG, except you cannot use it for hammer veneering.
--Nathan, TX. Hire the lazy man. He may not do as much work but that's because he will find a better way.
