Veneer and its use
These are some common terms and technologies in which veneer and veneering is used in woodworking to make high quality pieces that will have both strength and great character of figured woods. Veneer dates back thousands of years. Through this long period of time the term veneer was thought of as a covering of something substandard or used to hide poor workmanship. Today, like in times of old. We use veneer because the cost and availability of highly figured woods has made the use of solid wood prohibitive. Construction techniques especially for speakers can be built to standards which are difficult to obtain using solid wood. Use of multi laminate plywood's and MDF (medium density fiberboard) are sonically and structurally superior to typical hardwoods. Joints can also be made more substantial with these core materials yielding a stronger product for years and years of service. Considering that most of the trees cut today that have hardwoods with tremendous figure are sliced into veneer. The most economical use of fine wood will be to construct projects using veneer.
Veneer is sliced and packaged as it comes from the flitch. A flitch is a part of the log which is sliced lengthwise so it may then be sliced into veneer. For a tour of a veneer mill. B&B Rare Woods has a nice tour you can take and see exactly how a modern day veneer plant is operated. Veneer Mill Tour.
Veneer leaves are the single piece of veneer that is sliced. Some of the most common ways to arrange the leaves in a layout are exampled below.
Single Leaf of Veneer
Bookmatch
Two leaves, one on top of the other, The top leaf is flipped to the side so that one leaf is a front cut and the other leaf is a back cut. This creates a mirror image with a division vertically centered.
Slipmatch
One leaf is slipped over the one under it. This is best when grain patterns do not create an image that would lend itself to a bookmatch.
Quartermatch
For shorter leaves to cover a large area. Most commonly done with exotic burls which are usually small sections. four leaves are used, two leaves will be folded to the side as in a bookmatch. Now having a bookmatch with two leaves per side. The top leaf of each side is folded down. You now have a four piece match with mirror images and divisions both vertically and horizontally.
Buttmatch
Two leaves will be flipped end to end. So the match is a longer image where the ends of the veneer become the division.