Best way to attach some 1/16" skin/veneer/sheets to MDF? (1 Viewer)

[Mattak]

I came across some 1/16" sheets of nice hard plywood (I believe it may be birch). I plan to skin my sub with it (I think it will look beautiful), but I'm not sure what the best approach would be to attach it. I want to be sure it covers with no cavities between the MDF and the sheets.

I've read about using plain Elmers carpenter/wood glue but I'm wondering if there would be something more practical, and maybe faster drying. Also, if I were to use the wood glue, would I want to spread it thinly over the MDF and sheets, let it dry a bit, and then iron it on? What I have is a bit thicker than "veneer" so I'm not sure this would work too well. Or should I just glue the sheets on and then compress it with weight (doing one side of the sub at a time).

My sub is rather large so any way is going to take a bit of time, and probably going to require a lot of glue/cement.

I then plan to cover the edges with some hardwood corner stock (whatever it's called, just looks like a right angle |_ ). Then possibly cover the top with hardwood strips or a solid piece of something I don't have enough of the birch to cover the top unless I do it in pieces.

 

[JamesThompson]

Sounds exactly like what I used on my Tepest. My plywood veneer is Birch and the hardwood trim/top is Red Oak. See my www for pics.

To attach the plywood veneer is simply used yellow wood glue and a few bags of kitty litter (unused )

Mine turned out great. No resonance or hollow spots that I can find.

 

[Dan Wesnor]

I'd spread regular wood glue on with a cheap paintbrush and then put every clamp I owned on it, using scrap wood to form "bridges" to make sure enough pressure was applied to the center of the sheet.

 

[Mattak]

Yup, I saw yours before The edge pieces I plan to use are much smaller (and much less expensive than oak ) - they're something like 1/4" thick by 1" deep I think, I haven't picked any up yet.

I have a couple hundred pounds of olympic weight plates that I can lay flat on it I suppose. I don't have any long clamps :frowning:

 

[Mattak]

That failed miserably I tried to apply one of the sides I had cut, but after the birch sucked up a bit of glue it started to warp away from the MDF badly :frowning: I don't have anything to apply a nice uniform pressure to it (especially along the edges) so I ended up peeling it off and scraping the leftover glue off with a razor blade. Now I have a nice elmers finish

I may go with the bedliner finish

 

[GrahamT]

Mattak,
The problem may have been that you used too much glue. My veneer did the same thing until I started using less glue. It might be worth another try. I also put the sub on a sheet on MDF while the glue was drying to use the subs weight to apply pressure.

 

[JesseSilver]

The best way is almost unquestionably a vacuum press. Way overkill for one project, but since you can build one for around $300 (I did) it's well worth having if you end up doing more veneering work. Details on how to build one at www joewoodworker com

It's not a real URL since I'm new here and it won't let me post one