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| Glossary of Veneer Terms: A-F G-L M-R S-Z | |
| 10 Mil Veneer | A veneer face of any specie applied to a 10 mil paper back. Although face thickness may vary, the paper back thickness is consistent. |
| 2 Ply Veneer | A decorative wood veneer face with a utility grade wood backer applied at an opposing direction to the face veneer. Also referred to as wood on wood. |
| Bird's Eye | Due to local sharp depressions in the annual rings, accompanied by considerable fiber distortions. Once the depressions are formed, succeeding growth rings follow the same contour for many years. Rotary veneer cuts the depressions crosswise, and shows a series of circlets called bird's eyes. It occurs only in a small percentage of Maple trees. |
| Bee's Wing | Small and tight mottled figure similar in appearance to a bee's wing. Occurs mostly in East Indian Satinwood, also occasionally in mahogany and eucalyptus. |
| Blister | Produced by an uneven contour of the annual rings. The veneer has the effect of being blistered. Must be cut rotary or half-round. |
| Block Mottle | An irregular variegation in the cellular structure of the wood which shows as blocky patches across the grain of the veneer. It is commonly found in makore and anigre. |
| Book Matching | Achieved when successive veneer leaves in a flitch are turned over like the pages in a book and are glued in this manner. Since the reverse side of one leaf is a mirror image of the succeeding leaf, the result is a series pairs. Individual panels can be matched this way or you can achieve this look over many panels by sequence-matching the panels. Book matching is the most common match. A common problem in book matching is when the "tight" and "loose" sides are matched and reflect light and stains differently. This may yield color variations in some species which may be minimized by proper finishing techniques. |
| Bubble Free Veneer | A veneer face of any specie applied to a double paper layer of two 10 mil papers. With moisture resistant thermoset glue, the overall backer thickness is 22 mils. |
| Burl Veneer | Produced from a large, wartlike growth on the trunk of the tree. The grain pattern typically resembles a series of eyes laid side by side. Obviously the veneers leaf sizes are generally small and additionally are defective. While producing beautiful patterns, burl veneer is difficult to work with. |
| Butt Matching | Achieved when veneers are matched as described for book matching but the ends of the sheets are also matched. At times, the veneer being used is not long enough to cover the desired panel heights. In this case the veneer leaves can also be flipped end for end and the ends matched. |
| Button Figure | Wood species with large medullary rays are quarter cut to reveal the harder and shiny rays which show up as flakes or buttons on the straight grained background.Species such as white oak, lacewood and American sycamore are cut this way specifically to reveal this figure. |
| Cathedral | A grain appearance characterized by a series of stacked "V" and inverted "V". Pattern common in plain-sliced (flat-cut) veneer. |
| Center Matching | Each panel face is made with an even number of flitch sheets with a center line appearing at the midpoint of the panel and an equal number of veneer sheets on each side of the center line. The number of leaves on the face are always even, but the widths are not necessarily the same. |
| Checks | Small slits running parallel to the grain of wood, caused chiefly by strains produced in seasoning. |
| Core | There are four types of core construction used in plywood panels: a) Lumber Core: Consists of a heavy core of sawn lumber between crossbands. The thick center core permits doweling, splining and dovetailing. b). Veneer Core: Method of plywood construction consisting of 3,5,7 or more plies of veneer laid with grain direction of adjacent plies at right angles to each other. c). Particle Board: This type of core consists of chips or flakes of resin-coated wood fused together under heat and pressure to form a core for plywood. d). Mineral Core: Used for fireproof panel construction. Veneers are bonded to a hard noncombustible material. |
| Cross Fire | Figures which extend across the grain as mottle, fiddle-back, raindrop and finger-roll are often called cross figure or cross fire. A pronounced cross fire adds greatly to the beauty of the veneer. |
| Crossband | The veneer sheet between the core and face veneer. Its grain runs at right angles to the grain of adjacent layers, thereby providing the remarkable stability of hardwood plywood. |
| Crossbar | Type of figure or irregularity of grain resembling a dip in the grain running at tight angles, or nearly so, to the width of the veneer. |
| Crotch Veneer | Produced from the portion of the tree just below the point where it forks into two limbs. The grain is twisted, creating a variety of flame figures. Often resembles a well formed feather. The outside of the block produces a swirl figure that changes to full crotch flame figure as the cutting approaches the center of the block. |
| Crown Cut | See Flat Cut (below) |
| Curly Figure | Found mostly in Maple or Birch, and is due to the fibers being distorted and producing a wavy or curly effect in the veneer. |
| Domestic Wood Veneer | A reference to wood veneers commonly found in the United States and North America as a whole. |
| Edgeband | Thin strips of veneer used to cover the exposed edges of panel substrates. This veneer is usually available in rolls of various length and comes either pre-glued or unglued. |
| Exotic Wood Veneer | A common reference to wood veneers not indigenous to or grown in North America. Some burls and figured woods might also fall into this category. |
| Face | The better side of any plywood panel in which the outer plies are of different veneer grades. Also veneer spliced to a certain pattern and cut to exact size. |
| Fiddle Back | A fine, strong, even, ripple figure as frequently seen on the backs of violins. It is found principally in Mahogany and Maple; cut occurs sometimes in other woods. |
| Figure | The pattern produced in a wood surface by annual growth rings, rays, knots, deviations from natural grain such as interlocked and wavy grain, and irregular coloration. Appears across the grain. Mottle, fiddleback and raindrop are often called cross figure or cross fire. |
| Flake, Fleck Figure |
Flake figure is developed only in those species which have very heavy medullary ray growth, specifically Oak, Lacewood, and Sycamore. When the saw or knife cut is directly on or near to the radial, it is close to parallel with the medullary ray and therefore develops the "Flake" effect. |
| Flat Cut | Also called Plain Slicing, it is the most common method of veneer manufacturing, producing a grain pattern known as cathedral. Because each leaf in the flitch is similar, a consistent and even matching pattern is possible. Flat cut veneer is ideally suited for wall panels and furniture. |
| Flexible Veneer | Wood veneer which is joined, processed, sanded and backed with paper or other material to create a fully ready to use dimensional sheet of real wood veneer. |
| Flitch | A Section
of a log made ready for cutting into veneers. After cutting, all bundles are laid together in sequence as they were sliced. |
A-F G-L M-R S-Z More Helpful Veneer Hints: |
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Wood Veneering Tips
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