Hard wood and veneers

[AlexD]

Hi guys
Looking for Hardwood in the Jhb region.
East Africa Timbers in Germiston stocks all the exotics,reasonable pricing too.
Diy Industries next door to East Africa stocks all your veneers for thos brave enough.Sorry don't have the numbers on hand but they can be found in the directory or 10118.
Another merchant, http://www.timbermerchant.co.za in Pretoria.
Primrose Plywood and veneering do pre-veneered mdf and chipboard.http://www.primroseply.co.za
These people aren't paying,ok, :mrgreen: I will post more links,resource as I think of them
Later peeps :twisted:

[skinnyfat]

Thanks Alex

Keep em coming guys

[DACMan1]

If you're on a budget(like all diyers) contact FX veneers in waltloo pta. 0128034739. They specialize in making veneered boards, but they will sell you raw veneers at very good prices. A sheet cherry of 2.5*1.8m was R240 in January, rose went for R420 for 2.8*1.8m. I will try and have some veneered speakers at the next diy show, just to show what can be done. .

[Timber_MG]

I am also looking at FX, contact me offline for your enxt purchase and we might split some costs.

[pwatts]

For those wanting to use hardwoods: don't just buy what's pretty. Some woods are a nightmare to work with. Yellowwood in particular is very pretty, but cracks very easily. It's very easy to sand and shape though, but then also easy to get dented. I made my speaker baffles from it and it looks great, but was a real pain to work with.

Cherry also cracks very easily.

A nice wood to work with is called Iroko. It works easily and doesn't crack or break as soon as other types. Lovely texture also. Maple and oak also works well. Imbuya is very hard but is a good choice too for a nice dark texture.

[Viagara]

I made my speaker baffles from it and it looks great, but was a real pain to work with.

Pierre it sounds as if you have been involved in some really interesting things :icon_grovel:

How about some pics?

[pwatts]

Hahaha thanks.  :lol:  Most of my projects so far was either for work or friends, but I'll try and get round to photographing some of them sometime.

[Timber_MG]

Maple is nice, till you start having to work of 0.25 cubes of the stuff. A lot also depends on controlling moisture content in the wood and kiln dried wood is an absolute must.

Maple is uneeringly harregat to sand for a wood hat isn't that dense as one'd think.

[Shonver]

What glue do you guys use for veneering? I've been using Genkem (contact). Once tried using white wood glue (Alcolin), but the moisture content caused the veneer to swell, so I stuck with contact. Most of what I've built was finished with beech veneer, and the last one had -oops, I forget the name  :oops:

I learnt the hard way about moisture content :banghead:.  I try and seal the veneer as soon as I get it down.

BTW do we get paper-backed veneer here?

[pwatts]

Alcolin is a bad idea for painted cabinets. It makes a nice joint, but no matter how well you sand and use sanding sealer, the joint will make a line after the cabinet was painted.

A much better glue used by professional carpenters and shopfitters is called Belgotan (not sure of the spelling). It's a very brittle type of glue but it creates a stronger bond and more importantly, a more even joint that's good news for cabinet painting. A bit more expensive than Alcolin though.

My (admittedly limited) experiece with using contact glue with veneer was that it tended to peel off if the speaker has been exposed to some sun. The best way by far is to have a company press the veneer of your choice onto MDF sheets, and work from there using solid corners, and routed afterwards for a nice seamless integration. Some staining also helps to blend it in even more.

[Timber_MG]

Exactly my strategy. And nothing beats epoxy for veneering if you have a well prepared surface (primer on MDF) and either a surfacing table or vacuum bag. Bleed through almost disappears alrightish when finished with a 2k laquer too.

[Shonver]

I've used Balcotan to glue some speakers before. It expands as it cures, and is potentially messy, especially if you get it on your hands. Not sure how well it'll do for gluing veneer.

The best way by far is to have a company press the veneer of your choice onto MDF sheets, and work from there using solid corners, and routed afterwards for a nice seamless integration.

I'll be sure to try that the next time I have the opportunity. I once had some boxes made professionally, and it was made with pre-veneered wood. But they didn't use butt joints; the sides were 45 deg bevelled. I've made a box like this before (but painted), but won't go to that effort again.