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So I've never veneered anything before. And I started with bird's eye maple. On a guitar. This was my first mistake.
My second mistake was not flattening it before I started working with it, on the grounds that it was already pretty flat. Pretty flat is not flat enough.
My third mistake was staining it before applying it to the surface. With an oil based stain.
My fourth was not applying it heartwood side up.
My fifth was not using enough heat.
It's not all bad though. I figured out how to remove it without reducing it to splinters, how to flatten it even in much worse condition than it started out in with a veneer bath and lots of weight, and how to apply it correctly (I think). Now I've gotten my flattened veneer as flat against the wood as I could with a scraper I used like a veneer hammer, ironed it with some blank newspaper to prevent scorching, pseudo-veneer-hammered it again, put flat plywood over it, and put a 50 pound sandbag on top of the plywood. If that doesn't do it, I'm going to chalk this up as a distressingly expensive learning experience, sand the top and bottom as smooth as I can, and just... paint them. Which I don't want to do, but at least I know how.
I feel like I owe an apology to both the veneer and the guitar.
My second mistake was not flattening it before I started working with it, on the grounds that it was already pretty flat. Pretty flat is not flat enough.
My third mistake was staining it before applying it to the surface. With an oil based stain.
My fourth was not applying it heartwood side up.
My fifth was not using enough heat.
My sixth was not using enough glue, and my seventh was probably leaving too much glue.
My eighth was using too much heat.
It's not all bad though. I figured out how to remove it without reducing it to splinters, how to flatten it even in much worse condition than it started out in with a veneer bath and lots of weight, and how to apply it correctly (I think). Now I've gotten my flattened veneer as flat against the wood as I could with a scraper I used like a veneer hammer, ironed it with some blank newspaper to prevent scorching, pseudo-veneer-hammered it again, put flat plywood over it, and put a 50 pound sandbag on top of the plywood. If that doesn't do it, I'm going to chalk this up as a distressingly expensive learning experience, sand the top and bottom as smooth as I can, and just... paint them. Which I don't want to do, but at least I know how.
I feel like I owe an apology to both the veneer and the guitar.
