Do veneers have a place in well made crftsman furniture?

For instance the panels on case goods or on a panel bed?

Do most makers today use them?

Good Evening Friend.
To my knowledge veneer was not included in the making of arts and crafts furniture. Unlike the Victorian style of furniture that was made during, before and after the movement.
Also there is very little if any used in the making of A&C furniture today regardless of which style you choose unless it would or could possibly be Eastlake furniture.

Respectfully,

Ralph Jones

Veneer was used regularly in Arts & Crafts furniture; not extensively, but regularly. Gus Stickley used veneer to dress the fronts of legs, on the curved apron of round dining tables, and on the fronts of doors for desks and case pieces. He used it to balance out the 1/4 cut look and to deal with big areas that couldn't be properly done with larger boards that would be subject to warping and where several glued up smaller boards didn't look too cool. Similarly, Harden used veneer to dress the big glue up legs on their chairs. These are just a couple examples from recognized companies. L&JG Stickley came up with a patented process to lock four chamfered pieces of 1/4 cut together in legs so that they didn't need veneer - this was a pretty cool process, and a long time ago on the forum here someone got a custom cutter made to replicate this for new work. Since the big companies used it back in the day, the generic makers followed suit and used veneer to disguise table tops and so on. Below are a bunch of examples where you can see the use of veneer, and the inevitable examples of damage that can happen to it. As far as contemporary makers go, I guess a good example would be the 'new' Stickley (Audi) Co. who use veneer and even discuss it in their warranty information as something they can't fully guarantee won't be subject to cracking etc. over time. I wouldn't say 'most' makers use it today but it depends on how you group the makers - most custom makers would avoid it but a big shop like Stickley (Audi) has the equipment to do it. Lower end makers will use oak plywood which is arguably the same as veneer.

G. Stickley also used veneer for the inlays in the the Harvey Elis series.

There is one modern A & C furniture maker who has taken that motif and does the inlay completely through the front and back of the chairs and bookcases. The stuff is wonderful.

I agree, the really cheap antique A & C veneers are the ones that seem to fall apart. In fact, those are the ones that I am trying to replace with non-veneer pieces. They are too hard and expensive to repair but cheaper to buy when you are starting out. Until you develope an eye and know what to look for, it's way to easy to buy a veneer table thinking that it was solid.

Bev.

I guess if you have the big presses it is easier to use veneer.. What little I have worked with it, it seems veneer is more trouble than it is worth.

The bd ft price on quartered oak is $3.50 per ft..

Veneer applied to a solid base (like poplar) Poplar runs $1.50 per bd ft.. Plus the cost of contact cement and your time in application. I don;t see how cost savings can be a factor..


The only reason I can see would be if veneer were applied to a laminated base (like plywood) to be used as larger side panels. It is true that a piece of high grade plywood cut to 15" wide will be more stable than a piece of hardwood.. So there may be advantages to it for stability reasons.. otherwise it just seems like more trouble than it is worth..

Anyone have experience with veeners??

You make some very good points. (But then you are always a wealth of knowledge.)

The only time we did veneers, it was so difficult, time consuming and never looked right.

Bev.