Intro to Wood Veneering for Furniture Makers

Above you can watch a three part series of videos where Dave Heller shows the basics of veneering through the process of making a traditional high Federal style repeating veneer pattern with an oval fan. In these videos Dave simplifies the furniture veneering process so that almost anyone can do it!

These videos are based on Dave’s two day woodworking class called, “Veneering for Furniture Makers with Dave Heller“, which will be held at the Wood and Shop Traditional Woodworking School (check out our woodworking classes!).

Summary of Veneering Steps for Furniture Making

Dave and students start out by laying out a MDF or plywood base so that it looks like this:

Pieces of thin, sequentially sliced wood veneer are symmetrically added to the base as panels, in a configuration called a “Four way match”. They are arranged at the same angle to give either a diamond shape, or an exploding star pattern, as used in this example:

Above you can see a contrasting veneer “fillet” (light colored in this case) surrounding the veneer panels. And “crossbanding” is added outside of the fillets, in a contrasting hue to the light fillets.

Then the elements of the oval fan are made, slightly toasted in hot sand, and taped, then glued together. The shape of the oval is transferred onto the panel, and Dave uses a router to inlay the fan:

And at the end (after gluing and vacuum pressing), the veneering panel should look like this:

After watching this video (and especially after taking the class) students will be able to start embellishing their furniture with lovely matching wood veneering and an oval veneer shell, like this piece:

Here are some other wood veneering projects that can be accomplished using the skills learned in this video:

Dave’s other Articles & Videos

Below you can visit our other articles and videos with tutorials by Dave Heller, along with Dave’s website link:

• Dave Heller: Fine Furniture Maker & Marquetarian
• Make Mitered London Style Dovetails with Dave Heller
• Intro to Wood Veneering & Inlay with Dave Heller
• Awesome Geometric Marquetry Introduction with Dave Heller
• Making Cabriole Legs with Dave Heller | Part 1
• Making Cabriole Legs with Dave Heller Part 2
• Dave Heller’s Furniture Website