Experiments in Rotary Veneer Cutting

This report summarizes the results of tests on a number of woods to determine the effects of settings or adjustments of the lathe knife and nosebar on the quality of veneer produced. For 1/8-inch veneer of birch and many other species, a knife-angle setting of 90 degrees, or within 30 minutes of this figure, cuts the best veneer. Settings higher than this– increasing the knife “lead”–result in corrugated veneer settings lower than this–increasing the “bearing” on the knife surface–result in wavy veneer that is nonuniform in thickness. When veneer thinner than 1/8-inch is cut, knife angles become progressively higher. With thin veneer, such as 1/64- or 1/100- inch, knife angles have to be increased much more with species such as yellow birch than with others, such as yellow-poplar. This may indicate that in uniform-textured hardwoods a relationship between knife angle and wood density exists. Knife angle has to be decreased as log diameter decreases, but the temperature of the wood has no effect on, the knife angle. Reduction of the horizontal opening between the nosebar tip and the knife tip, up to the point where overcompression reduces the veneer thickness, decreases the severity of lathe checks and roughness of the veneer. Excessive compression of some softwoods results in shelling, or slivering, due to separation between springwood and summerwood. Rounding the leading edge of the nosebar does not improve veneer quality.

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