Veneer & Laminate#

Laminate faces, book match, and slip match veneer

Names: veneer match

When to use#

A show face covered in a thin leaf of another species (veneer) or a sheet good (a laminate), bonded to a solid substrate. The host keeps its declared dimensions; each leaf is its own generated part with its own cut-list row. Not for solid banding or stringing inlays: another file in INDEX.md may cover those, and it extends this one.

Syntax#

veneer face=<face> material=<Name> [thickness=<mm>] [grain_angle=<deg>] [leaves=<n>] [match=book|slip|sunburst]

• A laminate is the same node: give material= a type=sheet material. There is no separate laminate node.
• veneer cuts nothing on the host. Each leaf is a generated part (never written back to the source), bonded not joined: no join names it and it is expected to touch the host, so it never reports a clash or gap.
• A leaf follows its host's finished outline (RFC-0123): a cut_path ... keep="inside" outline or a pierced cut_path cut-out written on a face parallel to the veneered one, and a trim or scribed tenon shoulder written square to it, shape the leaf as they shape the host, on every leaf of a book, slip or sunburst match. Not followed: a leaning (tilt=) cut on a parallel face, an outline written on a face square to the veneered one, and blind cuts; the leaf keeps the blank rectangle there. A trim that removes a whole leaf leaves that leaf not built: the features remove the entire stock.
• The cut list shows each leaf as its own row (species, thickness, grain angle, match), a book-match's mirrored half as a distinct handed row, and the host row twice: the declared substrate size unchanged plus a finished-thickness figure (substrate plus leaves).

Example#

project name="Veneered Lid" units=mm schema_version=1 {
    materials {
        material Pine type=softwood
        material Walnut type=hardwood
    }
    component Lid role=lid {
        stock Pine 280.0 180.0 18.0
        // two leaves, opened like a book: the figure mirrors about the centre seam
        veneer face=pos_z material=Walnut thickness=3.0 grain_angle=0.0 match=book leaves=2
    }
    assembly Box {
        part Lid instance=Lid { by top_sw; pos x=0.0 y=0.0 z=0.0 }
    }
}

Pitfalls and diagnostics#

• Veneer cross-grain to a solid substrate cracks as the substrate moves; align grain_angle=0.0 with the host's grain unless the piece is a stable sheet substrate. examples/biedermeier_box.kdl explains why it veneers the show faces and balances the back.
• A one-sided veneer on a wide panel cups; veneer the balancing face too (a second veneer).
• material= is a name, not an expression: material=Walnut, not material="Walnut".
• veneer is read by name; it is not an edge feature, so it takes no edges child.

See also#

• docs/KDL_AUTHORING.md §7 ("Veneer and laminate"); docs/rfc/0123-veneer-and-laminate.md; ADR-0019 (the mirror used by book match).
• examples/biedermeier_box.kdl; docs/styles/biedermeier.md.
• materials-and-hardware.md (declaring the species), edge-and-face-cuts.md.

Names#

Every name this page declares, how the example library uses it, and the shortest real use.

veneer#

feature; node in 15 of 116 examples (30 uses).

Shortest real use, from empire_columned_chest.kdl:

veneer face=neg_x material=Mahogany thickness=veneer_th

match#

word-valued property; property in 15 of 116 examples (26 uses).

Shortest real use, from adirondack_pole_side_table.kdl:

veneer face=pos_z material=Willow thickness=0.6 match=sunburst leaves=8

Related terms#

• Book-matched veneer
• Burl veneer
• Oyster veneer
• Veneer