Veneering Automotive Interiors

Question:

I am redoing the veneered trim in my antique BMW. Is there a recommended adhesive product for this application?

Obviously there is a consideration to be made for temperature fluctuations and possibly humidity. Is it possible to use the peel and stick, or must I use vacuum?

Bends are slight; none are compound bends. I am leaning toward the use of Elm Carpathian Burl but need up to 40″ pieces. I haven’t seen many listed in this size range. Any help in this endeavor would be appreciated. I would prefer to do this once and done it right. Thus asking questions beforehand is paramount! Thanks.

Answer:

To answer the first question, we don’t have any burls available with the 3M peel and stick backing. All of our burls (and we have beautiful burl veneers in stock) are all paperbacked.

Without knowing the actual substrate material, we can’t say definitively but epoxy or urea formaldehyde are two viable adhesive options. These require vacuum press or some other means of pressing the veneer long enough to allow the glue to cure.

The other problem you may run into will be finding a Carpathian Elm burl that’s 40″ long without some type of seam. What we have available in the smallest dimension would be 4′x4′ and a piece that size could have as many as 6-8 pieces of burl in a book matched and butt matched pattern.

Once you’ve digested this information, you may want to call for technical support if you have further questions.

Oakwood Veneer Tech Support