WWA Info Exchange

making coopered tops for small (20w x 12 d x 12h) chests. I saw the veneer to approx >1/16 then use my jet 16/32 to sand to 1/16...after glue up, light sand, ...question is, other than trying to glue and place this thin and at times brittle thin dry veneer around a curve(esp the front and rear), could it be lightly moistened to ease its way onto the inside of the lid? I can always practice but maybe there is some practiced hands out there. thanks , gary

Can you post a photo of your project, Gary? Easier (for me at least) to assess the situation if I have a visual (grin)

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Cheers - Dennis

not a picture posting person, enough I can do a cell phone et al....make a coopered lid as a half circle, I want to veneer the inside to provide a finished look. I've had difficulty, at times, with the thin veneer splitting while laying it up, soooo wondered if moistening it both sides would make it more pliable while applying it...I would apply some pressure all around while it dries. thanks for the response. gary

I assume by "half circle, you are telling us the lid is half of cylinder, cut along the axis. In that case I would wet the veneer and clamp it to the outside of the lid (with no glue) until dry. You might want to protect the surface of the lid with wax paper or foil if wetting it is a concern. Once the veneer dries it would think it would have set to enough curve to allow you to now clamp it on the inside. A vacuum clamp would probably be the best way to clamp this, but lacking that, you might be able to rig up some sort of inflatable bladder to push the veneer against the inside; just be careful not to crack the coopered lid if it's not adequately supported on the outside.

clamping it around the outside is a great idea, thank you...not making a half circle, used that for illustration purposes to get the idea across...would be a radius of 3-4inches...thinking of wetting and wrapping on the outside, probably doesn't need to go on the outside tightly, just so long as the "wrap" gets set into the veneer. thanks again for the reply