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Makes me mad

Neil

Fellow
Joined
May 21, 2013
Posts
3,132
Location
Hitchin, Hertfordshire
First Name
Neil
Guys, one thing that makes me mad is people who take the ****.

Let me put this in perspective, I used to be in the timber trade, I designed interiors and cladding systems out of wood, I talked directly with large lumber merchants in the Appalachin mountains, dealt with the American Hardwood Export Council, was a member of Trada, etc etc. I bought in some bulk, the last job before I left the company I had worked with for seventeen years was to purchase 180 tons of European Oak. That job sadly went sour on the timber yard as they supplied slovenian cut timber sawn by an Italian mill whose total knowledge of wood was that leaves grew on trees. The wood was cut wrongly and cupped, bowed and twisted as a result and I condemned it - it went to firewood!

However, have you ever wondered how they cut veneer? There are two principle methods, and simplistically they get a log and cut it very thinly in a method that's called through and through, and then trim it to the sheets that you are probably familiar with (you can then use it to produce book matched, slip matched or mis matched boards - there are other recognised patterns for marketry). The other method is called rotary cut. The log is put onto what effectively is a very large lathe and the veneer blade which is a whole log length equivalent of a skew chisel, lowers itself mechanically onto the rotating log and the stuff peels off quickly. This is the way that they maximise a highly burred log and also create plywood.

You can always tell a rotary venner core, as they are called, because of the large holes that are made either end by the equivalent of a four prong drive, and the log remnant is around 190/200mm in diameter. Its not worth trying to flatten a veneer with the curvature in it any tighter than this.


I bought 3 cores of American Black for £20 each,

And they were a good buy, here's the side and end of half of the one above



And then you see things like this:
(And by the way its a stock clearance so it should be cheap?

Stock Clearance Turning Blank American Black Walnut Logs - Limited Stock | eBay

SL Hardwoods, you're having a laugh and ripping people off.

If you know of any veneer companies, ask them what they do with their veneer cores!
 

Paul

Fellow
Joined
Oct 22, 2013
Posts
1,053
Location
Kent
Thanks for the explanation and it must be frustrating. Yet also a side line for you if you can source at £20..... :thumbs:
 

paulm

grave manibus faciendum
Registered
Joined
Oct 7, 2013
Posts
12,046
Location
Sandford
First Name
Paul
Thank you Neil, that is a very interesting and useful thing to know. I am now on the search for veneer makers :thumbs:
 

bellringer

The Young one
Registered
Joined
Feb 27, 2013
Posts
5,187
Location
Surrey
First Name
Alex
I went to them the other day qnd was very un impress with the service so walk out and went to my other 30 mins away sl hard woods are shit
 

Penpal

Grand Master
Joined
May 26, 2013
Posts
25,340
Location
Canberra AUSTRALIA
First Name
Peter
Neil, During a visit to Tasmania I bought cores from a huge mill that specialised in rare and beautiful, their method used the timber to be peeled wringing wet so there was a considerable drying period for the cores, they were cheap from them in perspective it takes quite a while to reclaim the timber. What is your experience with them Neil?

Kind regards Peter.:thumbs:
 
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