Wood Veneer 101 by CabinetParts.Com

Wood Veneer is an expression of nature’s beauty and diversity. It is also a green product because wood veneer use less wood than other wood products. The more wood veneer is used, the fewer trees are needed to make furniture.  

What exactly is wood veneer?

Veneering is an ancient art that dates back to the ancient Egyptians.  They used veneers on their furniture and sarcophagi (an Egyptian casket).Wood Veneers are thin slices of REAL wood that are glued onto panels (often times fiber board) to produce flat panels such as cabinets, doors, and various types of furniture’s. 

To obtain the wood to make the veneer you have to "peel" the trunk of a tree or by slice large rectangular blocks of wood known as flitches. The look of the grain and figure in wood comes from slicing through the growth rings of a tree and depends upon the angle at which the wood is sliced. 

There are 5 primary slicing methods supplied at CabinetParts.com:

1.      Rotary Cut: In this cut, a log is mounted centrally in the lathe and turned against a razor-sharp blade, like unrolling a roll of paper. By following the log’s angular growth rings, a multi-patterned grain is produced.

2.      Flat or Plain Sliced: In this cut, the half log (flitch) is mounted with the heart side flays against the slicer and the slicing is done parallel to a line through the center of the log. This produces a distinct figure in the wood.

3.      Quarter Sliced: In this cut, the quarter log (flitch) is sliced so that the growth rings of the log strike the knife at right angles producing a series of stripes in the wood.

4.      Rift Cut: In this cut, various species of oak are sliced at an angle of about 15° off the quartered position. Oak cells radiate from the center of the log like spokes of a wheel. When sliced, the rift cut produces a combed grain effect.

5.      Half Round Sliced: In this cut, segments (flitches) are mounted off-center to the latches. This results in a cut slightly across the annular growth rings which produce a flat cut veneer appearance.

In any of the veneer slicing methods, when the veneer is sliced, a distortion of the grain occurs. Each slicing processes gives a unique type of grain, depending upon the tree species. As it hits the wood, the knife blade creates a "loose" side where the cells have been opened up by the blade, and a "tight" side.

We have over 40 types of wood species in 8 different cuts available here at CabinetParts.com.  Wood Veneers is a cheaper and greener alternative to other wood products.  

To order Wood Veneer's or any other Cabinet Hardware, click on the links above or call us at 1-800-857-8721.