Reddit mentions: The best veneers

You could buy a veneer sample pack, which includes several species of wood samples that are labled, and use them like flash cards to study the different characteristics. Or you could compare them to the furniture in your house.

A cheaper way to learn different commonly used wood species would be to walk into Home Depot or Lowe's or even better, a lumber specific store and just study the wood they have there. Typical stuff used around the eastern United States is oak, cherry, maple, walnut, pine, hickory, poplar, cedar, etc. They each have very distinct features like grain pattern, grain spacing, color, density, hardness, and even odor. Cedar for example is very soft, very lightweight, and has a strong odor, which you've smelled if you ever walked into a pet shop that uses cedar chips for rodent cages. While oak is very hard, and heavy and smells more like bad body odor.

Keep in mind that there are lots of different species like I mentioned above, but then there are subspecies like southern yellow pine, white pine, western red cedar, white cedar, black walnut, birdseye maple, silver maple, etc. And even within them examples of each can vary widely, because it its organic nature. But there will always be tell tale signs to narrow it down pretty close.

I'd definitely check out your local big box store and ask them what aisle the finish lumber is in, or just ask where the oak is. They usually sort everything by species and will have plenty of oak, poplar, maple and pine on hand. Lumber specialty stores will have a wider selection of stuff like walnut, and cherry. You can handle in, smell it, poke it with your thumbnail to see how hard it is, and even buy some to use as a reference. Prices vary widely from species to species. Pine is cheap and might be sold by the board while oak is pricier and might be sold by the food. You can cut small pieces of stuff in the scrap bins and they will only charge you for the length you take.


As for using different woods for different things, it's mostly style when it comes to furniture. Some people like the look of cherry, so they buy cherry furniture. There are certain woods with specific uses. For example, southern yellow pine is used for decks because it can be pressure treated with chemicals that make it not rot, or get eaten by wood eating insects. It's also very stringy and not likely to crack. It can bend very far before breaking so it's perfect for the strength needed in decks that can hold large crowds of people during parties. Cedar is also used outside a lot because it has natural tannins which keep it insect and rot free without any paint or chemical treatments. If you ever see wood siding on a house that looks like shingles, it's most likely cedar. Some roofs are even made with cedar shingles because it holds up to the elements very well.

Sorry for the wall of text. I just found this subreddit and I like sharing knowledge on topics I know more about.

Hey all!

First off: THANK YOU!! Thank you to all of you for your profound interest in the project and all the questions! I enjoy sharing any and all information I can :) and thank you for my FIRST Reddit Gold Award! I never would have thought this would merit such an awesome distinction!

I've received a number of queries about how it was put together, different functions, the construction, programming, etc... so I will definitely be putting together a detailed break-down so that anyone interested can follow along and hopefully be inspired to create their own crazy mirror setup!!! Keep an eye out here for that! I'm hoping no later than tomorrow evening but it could be done before or after that. Stay tuned!


Edit: Here is what I have so far for you all!


- Materials

o Raspberry Pi 3 b+ - https://www.amazon.com/LoveRPi-Raspberry-Quick-Raspbian-Desktop/dp/B07JR3M7FY

o Raspberry Pi fan - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076H3TKBP/

o Breakout board (testing purposes) - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076KZY5P6

o USB 5V 3.5A Power Supply - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00L88M8TE

o 64GB microSD card - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FCMBLV6

o USB Microphone - https://www.adafruit.com/product/3367

o USB Extension Cord – https://www.adafruit.com/product/993

o USB keyboard/mouse combo – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07SW719NZ

o Raspberry Pi V2 Camera – https://www.adafruit.com/product/3099

o V2 Camera extended cable – https://www.adafruit.com/product/1730

o 4 ohm impedance speakers – https://www.adafruit.com/product/1669

o Speaker Amplifier – https://www.adafruit.com/product/987

o Stereo aux cable - https://www.amazon.com/Hosa-YMM-261-Stereo-Breakout-Cable/dp/B000068O5H

o PIR-Motion-Sensor – https://www.adafruit.com/product/189

o Speaker mesh – https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01HMBKNSS/

o Magnets – https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077SGKY3C/

o Drawer Handle – https://www.homedepot.com/p/Liberty-Classic-Edge-5-1-16-in-128mm-Center-to-Center-Matte-Black-Drawer-Pull-P34928C-FB-CP/303135233

o Monitor, 28”

o Mirror – https://www.twowaymirrors.com/acrylic/

o 18-22 AWG wire

o Wire Connector Kit - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0774NMT1S

o HDX 6’ Extension Cord w/ ground plug - https://www.homedepot.com/p/HDX-6-ft-16-3-Indoor-Tight-Space-Cube-Tap-Extension-Cord-White-HD-158-007/202521667



o Lumber/Construction Material:

§ 2”x6” lumber (~200” long) (main frame/wall mounting)

§ 1”x6” lumber (8 ft long) (shelves)

§ 2”x2” lumber (8 ft long) (rear frame border)

§ Red Oak Veneer – https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001B1AR6E

§ Frame – https://www.homedepot.com/p/Weaber-WM-390-9-16-in-x-2-5-8-in-Oak-Chair-Rail-Moulding-73978/205923275

§ 1/8” MDF 2’x4’

§ 1/4” or 3/8” sandwich particle board, 2’x4’

o Construction Hardware:

§ Nails (for helping hold frame to wood while gluing)

§ Wood glue (secure frame)

§ Construction screws:

· #10 x 3.5” Construction Screws

· #8 x 2.5” Construction Screws

· Finishing nails

§ 3D printed pieces (custom 3D modeled and printed at home)

· Speaker/PIR/Microphone trim

· Camera trim/mount

· Speaker Amp/PIR/Microphone mount

· Speaker mount x2

· Pi mounting bracket


- Resources/References

o Raspbian Buster kernel – https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/raspbian/

o Magic Mirror 2 – https://magicmirror.builders/

o Modules: https://github.com/MichMich/MagicMirror/wiki/3rd-party-modules

§ mmpm (Module Manager)

§ MMM-Face-Reco-DNN (Facial Recognition)

§ MMM-PIR-Sensor (Motion Sensor Functionality)

§ MMM-AssistantMk2 (Google Assistant)

§ MMM-connection-status (Network Connection Check)

§ MMM-pages (Multi-Page Support)

§ MMM-ProfileSwitcher (Multiple Profile Support via Facial Recognition)

§ MMM-SingleStock (Track one stock of choice [my case, Microsoft])

§ MMM-News (News rotating on a 10 second basis)

§ MMM-GoogleMapsTraffic (Traffic Map w/ pins at work locations)

§ MMM-Traffic (Commute time from home to places of employment)

§ MMM-Hotword (hotword detection used in conjunction with Google Assistant)

§ MMM-3Day-Forecast (3 Day forecast for home)

§ MMM-Weather-Now (Weather at work locations)

§ MMM-WatchDog (Watchdog application for lock-up protection)

§ planetrise (rising/setting of planets based on lat/long)

I don't remember what exactly got me interested in inlays/marquetry but I rented a book on marquetry from the library and picked up the few tools I needed to get started and went on from there.

If you're interested in marquetry I recommend "The Fine Art of Marquetry: Creating Images in Wood Using Sawn Veneers" by Craig Vandall. He doesn't focus on the history/theory behind marquetry too much but gives a straight forward approach on where to begin and what tools you need to start.

For materials, I buy my veneer sheets from Amazon .The product linked gives you the most variety in wood species, great quality control, and value per sheet of veneer. For dyed veneer I go to B&B Rare Woods (their website is a little dated). Their dyed veneer's and regular veneer sheets are top notch. They also let you order book matched veneer sheets.

Let me know if you have any other questions or if you have trouble finding information on a certain subject. Cheers!

​

Having made them before I would say wood veneers work quite well. They likely need to be one sided and you will have to play with your settings because it's fairly easy to burn through. That said I've had the best results with these two:

Cedar Wood Veneer and Veneer Variety Pack

The cedar veneers are super consistent in quality. Thin enough to feel like a biz card but thick enough that they are sturdy like card stock paper. Prints well and gives a reasonable differentiation between shades of light and brown so that you can get some complex imagery going if you feel like it. The variety pack comes with a whole selection of woods of varying color and quality. Some are full of burls which don't lend themselves well to lasering over, and others have such a grain pattern that distracts to much from small imagery as used in a biz card. On the other hand some of them have beautiful sheen as well as very striking color.

Here's an example of some done with two veneers from the variety pack.

I used pre-drilled melamine panels. Easy to install the horizontal shelves in the best spot, super easy to get an excellent paint job on it (if you do not like the bright white color that it comes in), and the edges can be finished with iron-on edgebanding:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Melamine-White-Drilled-Panel-Common-3-4-in-x-15-3-4-in-x-8-ft-Actual-0-75-in-x-15-75-in-x-97-in-371693/202089062

https://www.amazon.com/38565-Melamine-Iron-Edgebanding-White/dp/B0071BR60I

I get my glue to 160. One thing that I find really helps is getting everything hot. After I press my glue soaked veneers for a day I re-prep them by doing the following:

1 - Spread glue on the toothed substrate

2 - put veneer face-down on glue soaked substrate

3 - Wet with water (spray bottle)

4 - Iron it until the veneer is uncomfortable to touch for longer than a few seconds

5 - Apply glue to veneer

6 - Peel it up, flip it, get it where I want it, and hammer it. Don't go crazy getting all the air pockets out. It's MUCH easier to touch them up after (like he does in video 2) than worry about breaking your glue bond by hammering partially set glue

Also if you want so low level of effort practice, order this. Good quality veneers, really cool species, and you don't need to cut them. They make interesting combinations for box bottoms and floating panel box tops if they come out nice too.

I am surprised at how quickly they thaw. Maybe 15min to slushy-but-pourable, depending on sugar content? Microwaving can speed it up in a pinch. Unsure if the reheating impacts flavor, but I haven't noticed any change.

The bottles were just what I got when I searched on Amazon for "glass 4oz bottles". I got the brown ones because they felt classier, but I kinda feel that clear might be better to see how full they are and what's inside (by color).

https://www.amazon.com/Amber-Glass-Boston-Bottles-Ribbed/dp/B000AV16H0/

I just bought PSA maple veneer, but birch is cheaper.
https://www.amazon.com/White-Veneer-Rotary-Premium-Adhesive/dp/B00VES1I6C

The big trick is a laser cutter, which sometimes are available for use at schools, and some towns have makerspaces. If you happen to pull stuff together, I'd happily hit you with the files to make whatever labels you want (if you like my design). Wouldn't take me but 5 minutes! You could also grab a Cricut (https://home.cricut.com/) which is a razor blade cutter than can cut vinyl sticker stock (much cheaper).

Definitely veneer. Don't bother trying to save it.

You can definitely sand or strip it off and apply new veneer. The edge is actually pretty easy to trim to the rounded corners.

Paint and epoxy would last longer than the veneer.

Stand up and turn 90 degrees clockwise.

Your welcome.

But honestly, I'd see if you have any shops local that you can get them from. Even if you have to pay, odds are you'll spend much less than you would online. Something like this might could help.

There are plenty of websites where you can download a printable outlines to scale. Simply trace out the pattern or glue the stencil down. Use your jig saw with a fine tooth wood blade and take your time cutting it out. Drill holes in the corners where you need to sharp turns.

Go slow. There should be an adjustment on your saw for less aggressive cutting. The blade will stroke straight up and down.

Lastly I would finish the piece with some iron on edge banding. https://www.amazon.com/Birch-Wood-Veneer-Edgebanding-Preglued/dp/B01AYD52Q4/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1537207528&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=edge+banding&psc=1

Good luck

I've used the Knowles GK driver in all of my builds with a green damper on the TWFK. The sound signature is fairly flat, although I've never measured it. I'm no expert in sound and I haven't listened to a lot of good headphones so I don't really know how it compares to others. I have had a couple of people that told me they were the best sounding headphones they had listened to.

Here are all of the completed sets I've made. Set #1 and #7 were made for myself. #7 was just a reshell. The green and blue faceplates are Kirinite. It is typically used to make knife and gun handles. The wood is from a variety pack of veneer I bought from Amazon. For the wood, I cut rectangles of the veneer that are just bigger than what I need and glue them all together to get the thickness I need, typically 5 or 6 layers.

I also used a sheet of aluminum on my third set. I got it from a local metal supplier for free. Just a small cutoff. It was pretty difficult to work with. It had to be shaped before it was attached to the shell. It would get too hot and fall off when shaping it with it attached.

Agreed. I love the way my 626 looks with real wood. The tool that helped the most with the rewrap process was this thing, so be sure to suggest the buyer get one. Cloverdale 33437 Band-It Edge Trimmer https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001B1CHDA/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_H.00CbAKXFW5M

went to that link, found this: http://www.amazon.com/Sauers-Wood-Identification-Kit/dp/B003F0C9EW/ref=pd_sim_201_2?ie=UTF8&dpID=61vDejjpw3L&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&refRID=0VACTVP05EKQMBDBD5BW if you wanted to make your own i suppose this would be great!

Thanks man! The veneer was pretty easy to apply. It has a 3m backing so its just a giant sticker. I know there's some with no backing and you just glue it on but I think you'd need some sort of vacuum sealer to get a proper adherence. Heres the veneer I used: https://www.amazon.com/Walnut-Veneer-Plain-Sliced-Sheet/dp/B0161DR6IS/ref=pd_ybh_a_25?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=7P49MJ5YX6HAJ4EQB76R

Also if you want reaaaal thin wood you may even buy wood veneer sheets (online is easy, hard to find in most stores, Home Depot didn't sell) , this is thin stuff you could cut with a razor and could probably attach to a substructure like chipboard (the back of a legal paper pad) for sturdiness.

https://www.amazon.com/Sauers-Walnut-Veneer-7-Piece/dp/B01B7BTWI6/ref=sr_1_29?crid=2EEUV2F42Y1QN&keywords=wood+veneer+sheet&qid=1573370847&sprefix=wood+ve%2Caps%2C206&sr=8-29

Staining isn't necessary, but you'll want to put a couple of coats of polyurethane on it to protect it.

Also, since it's plywood you can get some edge banding to make the edges look much better. Just iron it on, trim it close to the board with an xacto knife, then use a sanding block to sand it flush.

Very nice. If you want to cover up those plywood edges you could apply something like this.

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Some like the aesthetic of unfinished plywood edges, but I prefer a more finished look.

I purchased this and they even gave me an extra 2sqft free

Something like this, stained to match and trimmed to fit the upper and lower panels might be just the thing:
http://www.amazon.com/Wood-Veneer-Maple-Paper-Backer/dp/B0009V307A/ref=pd_sim_sbs_hi_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=0QECGMH73HEFA28KMG83

You might be able to get a plastic cover from a hardware place like lowes, look in the bolt area where they have all the bins. I think they label it specialty or something.

I don't know of any true "sticker" that could be used to cover them up. But, maybe you could try cutting iron on veneer to size and sticking it on them than staining it to match the color. not sure if you would have to sand around the area to get them to stick, but probably.
http://www.amazon.com/BAND-IT-WOOD-VENEER-IRON-ON-EDGEBANDING/dp/B0071BSRII/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1347335343&sr=8-3&keywords=iron+on+veneer

I've got to second Guygan on this, just filling in the spot will almost certainly not produce the result you expect. That being said, you could replace that entire panel and finish it with some edge banding

Well, there's this for metals: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DM7VBCT

Or wood: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003F0C9EW

Polymers: https://mindsetsonline.co.uk/shop/polymer-identification-set/

Or for 300€, you can get a professional plastic sample set meant for product design: https://www.plasticprop.com/buy-samples

Real wood veneer with pressure-sensitive adhesive is available in 2 x 8 foot sheets in most woods from Amazon. Matching longer rolls are available in ¼, ½, ¾, 1, etc. for the edges. More expensive than paint but you didn't mention a budget.

What about this:
https://smile.amazon.com/38565-White-Band-Melamine-Edgebanding/dp/B0071BR60I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1487103978&sr=8-1&keywords=white+veneer

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B003F0G60A/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1417905748&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SY200_QL40

http://www.amazon.com/Birch-Wood-Edge-Banding-Tape/dp/B0007SVE96

Try this: https://www.amazon.com/Sauers-CECOMINOD058354-Wood-Identification-Kit/dp/B003F0C9EW/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1539613946&sr=8-3&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=veneer+sample&dpPl=1&dpID=51neA%2BDyIEL&ref=plSrch

Glue it, as another redditor suggested. I use painters tape to hold it in place while it's drying.

You can also buy a replacement relatively inexpensively if you don't have the strip anymore. It's iron-on, here's an example:

https://www.amazon.com/Band-34210-Veneer-Iron-Edgebanding/dp/B000KLTU6O

I could only find black melamine edging online. http://www.amazon.com/Sauers-Black-Melamine-25-Edging/dp/B00315PNAI
I was trying to find the "T" type that and rout a groove into my wood, but in the end I just settled for iron on edging. I went slow and its holding up really well.

The one thing I should mention that isn't visible in the photos...I put a small drill hole in the plexiglas over the power button of the monitor. That way if the monitor ever shuts off I can just slide a paperclip inside and fire it back up.

I was just going to throw in that you can buy this edging stuff in various widths. Even if it looks slightly off up close, nobody would ever notice.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0071BR60I/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_UIyrDb67GWB0H

Make sure you tape where your cut is because that thermofoil (if that is ehat it is) can really kind of rip when you cut it.