glue for laminating sides.

[Dave Sayers]

I had the very great good fortune to come across a rather large amount of quality veneer in a boot sale at a rather small price. It includes ordinary sapele, figured sapele and some very lovely flame sapele. I'm going to make some laminated back and side sets using figured sapele for the inner surface, sapele for the middle laminates and one layer flame 0.9mm on the outer side. I'll also laminate a back with the flame. I'll be using thse back and side sets to build my first scratch built guitars. My question is, has anyone else tried this and what glue did you use? At the moment I'm considering casein glue aas it has a fairly long setting time and should allow the veneer layers to slide over each other in the press. Any thoughts, anyone? I'm quite happy to experiment with suggestions as I did get A LOT of veneer.

[B. Howard]

I have done a fair bit of laminating bending over the years. I have used urethane glue, Titebond extend and white glue all with success. The titebond extend has been my favorite for work like this but even so you must work briskly once the ply's come in contact with each other. Especially when working with thin veneers as they will tend to grab and crumple. Make sure to glue proof all equipment and cauls or they will wind up glued fast at the end.

[Dave Sayers]

Many thanks Brian, I shall be doing one layer at a time. I've got white glue and titebond, but I've had a think and decided I might try a small patch of each type including gool old fashioned casein and see what seems most rigid.
When gluing I'll be using laminate flooring underlay to prevent sticking. It also evens out the pressure of the clamps and anyway I got a roll cheap. Useful stuff. http://www.flooringsupplies.co.uk/acces ... m_underlay