VENEER MATCHING TECHNIQUES

Be glad, carpenters! Our rubric is back "on the blog"!

We must first resume what we have said on the previous episodes: we have written about how veneer can be cut and what is the process of veneering. But these sheets made out of wood can be smaller than your cupboard or table... So, they have to been matched. This matching process can be done with different methods, that can have different results.
Usually, sheets are sold in packs of 24/32 (it depends on the thickness and the type of wood). These packs are composed by veneer made out of the same part of the log, so they tend to have an homogeneous color.

One of the most common approach is called book matching: alternative pieces of veneer are flipped over, so they match as pages of a book. This kind of matching technique is used on flamed wood (obtained by lengthwise cut). 

This is one of the most precious finishing, due to its perfectly symmetric  pattern and its homogeneous color.

Another approach is the slip matching: 

sheets are simply joined in sequence, without flipping them. Wood with straight grain are often put together like this, so the joins will not be obvious.
Another reason for using a slip matching concerns the color: if sheets are flipped, the painting can have a different results on the different sides.
Transparent and natural finishing are usually used.

Then, we can write something about the random matching:

this technique is just what it sounds like; sheets are chopped and then matched, without respecting any kind of grain or color. The results is a bigger sheet that has a pattern composed by different colors and grain.

There are some other approaches, that creates particular patterns and figures: diamond, reversed diamond, sun, box... Each of these can give to your furniture a refined look and a different meaning!