On Tue, 16 Feb 2010 19:52:01 -0500, eclipsme wrote:
On 2/16/2010 6:04 PM, J. Clarke wrote:
eclipsme wrote:
Which would be better for the backing - MDF or Birch ply? I think for
doors I would use MDF, but for drawer fronts do I need the extra
strength of ply?

In a kitchen use plywood or Extira. Ordinary MDF swells when you just let
it _look_ at water and it's inevitable that stuff in a kitchen will get wet.
Extira should be OK but it costs about the same as Baltic Birch. MDF with a
good veneer job and a good heavy finish _should_ be OK but if it does swell
all your hard work is gone to waste.

Good thoughts.

Am I correct in thinking that it would be best to veneer full sheets
of plywood before cutting?

Not necessarily. If you cut first you can cut to optimize use of the panel,
then veneer the pieces to get matched grain.

I assume that you must apply a slightly over-sized veneer to do this.
How do you stop that overhang from breaking off in the vacuum press?

I suppose you could use scraps of the substrate positioned to support
the veneer, but you will have to figure out how to keep everything in
place until the vacuum is fully applied, and you will need to put packing
tape or plastic on them to keep glue that is squeezed out from sticking
to them.

I've always made the substrate a bit oversize and cut the veneer to
match. After the glue-up is complete, I trim to size. But I haven't
done anything like what you're contemplating.

--
Art Greenberg
artg at eclipse dot net