Veneer... Good or Bad?

Normally I’d be posting this on Saturday, but my brother is getting married this Saturday! So that means that you get a post a couple days early! Today I want to talk about veneer and it’s use in antique and modern furniture, because I can’t tell you how many people have walked into the shop with an antique piece of furniture telling us how their empire bureau (or something of that sort) is “solid Mahogany” or “solid Birds-Eye Maple” and their face falls when we explain that their piece is actually a veneered piece. Many people think that simply because a piece has veneer, it is either not valuable, or isn’t actually an antique. Neither of these assumptions are necessarily true, though they are based in historical fact or practice. 

Veneer was actually used as far back as the Egyptian Pharaohs. That means that it was used 4,000 years ago! The guys over at Wood River have a more in-depth description of the history and how it has been used and harvested over the years. You can take a look at that here: http://wood-veneer.com/history-of-veneer.php 

The furniture we most often encounter are pieces from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, and while many of these pieces are solid, there were many furniture makers who did use veneer, so as to avoid using a lot of the more expensive woods, while retaining the beauty. Because the method of slicing the veneer was different, and they didn’t have the same precision tools that we do now, the veneer varies in thickness from 1/16th of an inch to 3/16ths of an inch. This makes it relatively easy to repair. Modern veneers are about 1/64th of an inch, and are very hard to work with.  So, if you have a piece and the veneer is flaking off, or buckling, and it’s thicker than a piece of paper, bring it in and we will most likely be able to repair it! 

The reason that many people believe that if a piece is veneered it is a fake or a piece of junk, is that in the early 1900s factories began covering pieces with veneer to disguise cheaper material choices. They began using cheap plywoods and using dowels instead of traditional mortise and tenon joinery or dovetails, and so the pieces were built faster and cheaper, but they also fell apart quicker. Dad and I do use veneer and plywood occasionally but only where it doesn’t compromise quality, but improves it.  The marriage of traditional methods and modern materials is a tricky business, but that is a topic for a different post!