Filleting veneer edges

[Kaisergrendel]

I'm using oak iron-on veneer to finish my speaker cabinets and was wondering if it's a good idea to fillet the edges by diagonally sanding off just the thickness of the veneer? I'm trying to avoid disaster by finishing with sharp edges as they could easily chip when knocked.

[Arron]

I do quite a bit of work with veneer, and often wonder about this too. My general experience is that if you have applied a good finish and YOU CAN BE CONFIDENT THAT YOUR ADHESION IS GOOD then there is no problem with bevelling the edge. The varnish (or whatever) tends to hold it all together. In fact there may be an advantage as there is less chance of the veneer being hooked outwards if the edges are bevelled. The main problem is that if you go too far you will expose the board underneath (the 'substrate') which will look different to the veneer -and may be very obvious.

When doing a quality job, I usually make sure there is a thin sliver of real timber, of the same type as the veneer, under each edge (technically, under each arise). That way, if the edge is chipped, you see the real timber and not the substrate. I would therefore edge each of the boards which make up your speakers with oak before assemby. The oak is about about 10mm thick. Then I veneer over that. Chip the edge, and you see oak, not mdf.

I have to admit I never use iron-on veneer, for concern about how long it will last. I dont think it changes anything I have said though.

cheers
Arron

[ian]

What Arron said,
edge the corners with real wood, the same species and grain direction as the veneer

[Kaisergrendel]

Thanks Arron, it's a great tip to back up the veneer with thicker timber, but unfortunately adding that much material will change the structure and will most likely harm the sonics and dampening quality of the speakers. I don't have the tools to rout the edges of the mdf out and replace them with real timber either.

Could there be any problems applying the lacquer over the exposed end grain of the bevels? I'm hoping it will round over the bevel and form a nice seal over the edge.

[Arron]

I dont think so. My normal strategy is to leave the edges square, apply a couple of coats of sanding sealer or maybe thinned laquer, put the tiny edge bevels on, then apply finish coats of laquer.

cheers
Arron

and just for the record, should anyone else be reading this or should you decide to do another version later, the deluxe method of doing this sort of thing is as shown in the attached file. Cut the substrate 10mm short all round, then apply 10mm thick natural timber to all edges, fixing with a good glue. Mitre the corners where the natural timbers meet. Then veneer right over both substrate and natural timber. Then trim off the veneer and work the edges exactly as if working natural timber (planing, bevelling etc with confidence). Then assemble the case. Its very hard to tell this from a piece of natural timber and will withstand knocks and chips very easily. And while I'm at it, I should advise to use home made caul presses and bare veneer, not the iron-on stuff.

I do realise though, that this takes a lot more equipment and time, so not really what you are after in this instance.