Veneer Furniture

Plywood contributes to a perception that veneer means a low quality, easily marred, low cost wooden objects. This perception contrasts historic use of thin wood slices that showcases the beauty of woods that are either rare, expensive, and/or possess natural artistic qualities.  Adhering these slices to larger surfaces expand the size of the furniture that can use these unique natural resources. Additionally, by arranging grain orientation and color prior to the gluing, new visual appearances develop that are not available from using solid wood alone.

A three-tiered modern chest of drawers uses some low value scraps of Sycamore leftover from making the conference table. Veneering converted this scrap into enough material to make a full-size furniture piece instead of a few small solid wood boxes. The resulting striking Sycamore quarter-sawn ray pattern justified the effort.

Scrap lumber Conversion into veneer is a straight forward process. The flexibility to cut thicker wood slices than commercially available veneer simplified the hand-forming of a multi-faceted polygon into the chest of drawers’ round surface.  Working with this veneered product produced a final result similar to working with solid lumber. The solid lumber-like surface provided a durable surface that allowed the different tiers to rotate and change the orientation of the drawer openings to suit the owner’s desires or space requirements.

 Size

Three drawers 6.5 inches depth top, 6.75 inches depth middle and 7.0 inches depth lower tier

24 inches (nominal) height and diameter.  Requires a 28″ x 28″ location to allow free rotation of the square middle tier.

Material

Quarter-sawn Sycamore veneer (0.125 inch) over 7 ply 0.5 inch plywood ( yields nominal 5/8 inch thick)

Draw pull -Resin reproduction of deer antler (Woodworker’s Supply)

Finish

Clear waterborne polyurethane – no stain

You may read about how the table was made and more details on the veneering process.  If you would like to comment or inquire about how a similar table could be yours, please contact me at findoutmore@wccwood.com