Will veneer replace solid wood
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25 July 2015 at 10:20 pm #128800
Veneers has been around for thousands of years dating back to the Egyptian times but the appeal was lost during the early 1800s when the first veneer slicing machine was introduced which produced disastrous results. It wasn’t until after WWII when the demand for mass production of furniture that veneering completely lost its appeal. The main culprit at play was the low quality particleboards that were used up until the 19070s. With the introduction of better quality particleboards and MDF, vacuum suction bags etc has veneers come back onto the market.
From where this question arises is purely from a financial standpoint. A local milling yard would gain 10 times the price of a single log sliced into veneers than he would from the same log sawed into boards. 10 times the price!!!! If the lobbyists tree huggers have their way and the government sees dollar signs in which direction do you think we will be headed.
Back in 2010 five and half million trees were planted daily, I don’t know the figure today but even if it increased slightly above that figure the lobbyists don’t stand a chance but where they might have a case and without a doubt would use is the high yielding profit margins of venee vs solid timber. This unfortunately is the case today where veneerists are propagating this claim and not for any good reason other than their own selfish ones.
If the marketers with the help of veneerists get their way solid timber prices would go through the roof forcing many woodworkers to switch to MDF and veneers. What would we as hand tool woodworkers do then, our tools would be rendered useless unless we switched to MDF or particleboards. Hand planes would be made redundant as there would be nothing to plane anymore, I’ve tried once in my life when I was building my own tool cabinet out of MDF using hand tools only and I can tell you it was like slicing cardboard. Not an enjoyable experience at all.
Will veneers replace solid timber I can honestly say I don’t know but I would like to hear your thoughts on this subject.
I would like to point out though I’m not entirely against veneering, veneers have their place in the market I have seen much talented artisans use veneer as works of art. They also serve us immensely on highly prized cabinets and beautiful boxes and clocks but what I am against is the replacement of solid timber with man made boards veneered to make it appear as solid timber and then demand higher prices over products made from solid timber.
26 July 2015 at 1:13 am #128801The way our world is going, if wood companies can get 10x the income from veneers as they can from boards, it may be that we’ll only be able to get veneers in the future. Money is the driving force behind all industry.
But I have to think that there is (and will be) a segment of the population that will demand solid wood. Certainly the construction industry will still require pine 2×4 solid wood. Artisans will still want to use real (solid) wood for many things, but maybe the price will be so high that they get forced to use veneered products.
I try to find pre-used wood whenever possible. I can’t seem to find enough or nice enough pieces sometimes, but there is some out there.
It’s sad, really. Like I said in your other post recently, I don’t like where we as a country, as a planet, as a species are heading. Money is such a strong force. Marketers have fine-tuned their craft so much that everybody thinks their lives are so awful if they don’t go on that trip to Paris or take that cruise to Belize or have the newest machine to make dovetails or be as good looking as the newest 21 year old movie star. If people could just be happy to live a simple life and not let marketers dictate what they must do, maybe the world wouldn’t be so crazy.
26 July 2015 at 1:20 am #128802What you say about marketers is absolutely true and this is the same that Paul is trying to get across. Thank you for being awake.
Short answer, veneers will never take the place of solid wood furniture. But I think veneered furniture market will continue to grow in popularity. I think it’s debatable on which furniture costs less, when you consider labor, transportation vs durability and longevity.. But given a chance to spend $1200 on furniture or go an a week vacation, people now would prefer to vacation or spoil themselves…
Also, veneering can be an art form all by it’self, especially when you consider the designs that can be made with book matched figured veneers.
26 July 2015 at 10:31 pm #128825Interesting and not only bookmatched but artistic pictures as well. I certainly hope you are correct that this will not happen but as matt said this is money oriented world.
Lets hope people will change their spending habits but I cannot deny what you say because Australians especially in my locality love to party, party amd then some more.
23 August 2015 at 3:51 pm #129672No.
As one who has sold timber from these Southeastern Hardwoods (Hickory, Oak (Red/White), Maple, Poplar, Sassafras, Beech, Elm, Cherry, Walnut, and a few others) I can assure you that veneer doesn’t “grow on every tree”.
Logs are valued by grade, which varies by species and sizes. Veneer grade is the highest and also the rarest. To achieve veneer grade a log must be nearly flawless. There can be no knots, shake, mineral stains, metal, kink, twist, bow, bird-peck, insect or fire damage, etc. Every time a tree is felled some slight to severe damage occurs to a few of the trees left standing (the next crop) as it falls as well as during skidding.
Very few trees grow to this perfection. So long as trees grow out in the open subject to wind, weather, animals, insects, and man, I don’t expect this to change.
Until the time comes when they cut veneers from imperfect logs, I don’t see how it can change.
Also, you have those folks like me who absolutely despise veneered products and will never participate in the retail consumption of such things.
@wadepatton, now that you mention that, I can’t every remember seeing less than perfect logs at the veneer flooring company I used to do IT support for. Also the logs were all only about three and half to four feet long.
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