How to Flatten Wood Veneer
Our guide to using veneer softener to flatten burls and more

Even the best veneers can have mild to moderate rippling. This is typically caused by areas where there is a high density of wood cells which, during changes in moisture content, expand and contract at a different rate than areas where the density of wood cells is less. This is especially true of crotch and burl veneers.

There's an old trick for determining whether you need to flatten a veneer before you work with it in a vacuum press. It's 20 cents more than a nickel's worth of free advice. You'll only need to do this trick once to learn when flattening is needed. After the first time, seeing and feeling the veneer will be enough to know if flattening is needed. Be aware that this technique does not apply to veneers that will be adhered with Heat Lock™ adhesive. For that type of glue and bonding technique, it is always best to completely flatten the veneer with Super-Soft 2™.

Get a quarter and place it on the veneer. Move it around the veneer and look for gaps between the veneer and the coin. If any place on the veneer shows more than 1/8" of gap under it, you'll probably need to flatten the veneer. Of course, this is just a rule of thumb. You will find that exceptionally brittle veneers need to be treated with a veneer softener and flattened regardless of the gap.

Additionally, veneers that are being seamed together (using a veneer saw and veneer tape) are much easier to cut and join when they are very flat.

Veneer Softener 101
We've tried several types of softening solutions. 

Fabric softener - There will be a large handful of readers who will say that they have used fabric softener to make veneer pliable. We won't argue this because these folks are right. It will make veneer pliable, but it will also leave a residue that can catastrophically affect the bonding of the material to the substrate. It can also impact the absorption of some wood stains and finishes.

Water - Indeed water will have a small and short-lived effect on a veneer's flexibility. It will not condition the wood cells which is critical to getting the veneer flat without splitting. Additionally, if the water dries too fast, the veneer sheet can severely split and crack.

Homemade Softener - There is an antique veneer softener recipe of consisting of 3 parts water, 2 parts yellow glue, 1 part vegetable glycerin, and 1 part denatured alcohol. This combination will soften veneer, but it's sticky, messy, and hard to dry. It will also seal the wood cells which can have an effect on the wood's ability to accept a stain and finish. If you opt to use homemade veneer softener, you will find that glue content causes the veneer to stick to the absorbent paper. You can avoid this issue by placing a piece of fiberglass cloth between the veneer and the paper. Fiber glass cloth can be found at your local hardware store near the adhesive aisle.

Super Soft 2™ Veneer Softener - Despite its cheesy name, SS2 is by far, the most effective and user-friendly veneer softener available. By temporarily plasticizing wood cells, veneers treated with Super-Soft 2 become easy to flatten and surprisingly flexible. Once dry this softener does not affect the gluing, staining, or clear-coating properties of the veneer. 

Apply it by dipping, spraying, or brushing. No mixing is required.

We took the picture shown on the right to give you an idea of how well Super-Soft 2 works. This image shows a madrone burl veneer that has been sprayed with veneer softener and then rolled around a pencil. There are no cracks or splits. You can probably imagine the many possibilities with complex veneering projects when it can be made this flexible.

Here is an interesting bit of information. If you get a drop of softener on your work bench and leave it there, the chemicals in SS2 will retain the water content, and it won't evaporate for several days!

Super Soft 2™ Application Instructions

1. Saturate both sides of the veneer with softener by dipping, spraying, or brushing.
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2. Allow the veneers to stand until the surface is free of shiny, wet areas.
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3. Place veneer between two sheets of absorbent paper (paper towels, brown paper, or unprinted newspaper) and place it between two flat boards.
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4. Apply plenty of weight or clamping pressure to the top. You increase the success rate of the flattening process with each pound of weight that is added. Inadequate weight or pressure can allow the veneer to become more wavy. Some species, including but not limited to maple and bubinga, require a very, very large amount of clamping pressure which sometimes can only be achieved with a vacuum press.
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5. Leave the veneer under pressure for four to six hours. Then replace the absorbent sheets every 6 hours and apply the weight or pressure again until the veneer is completely dry. Keep as much pressure as possible on the veneer during the drying process.
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6. Determining when the softener has fully dried has a lot to do with your senses. If the veneer feels cool, looks dark, or smells a lot like the softener, then it is probably not fully dry. Do not use the veneer on a project until the softener has dried.

More Information
There is a full page of additional information about our veneer softener that you may find very helpful. Click here and click on the "Questions & Answers tab".