Protecting veneer with epoxy coat

[Steve Sawyer]

On my current build the body is faced with some pommele sapele veneer. This stuff is extremely delicate, and since I have a lot of operations yet to do including routing the pup cavities and neck mortise, concerned about damaging the veneer particularly when using double-sided tape.

I was thinking that since I plan on grain-filling with epoxy, that I should go ahead and sand the veneer to 220 and apply at least one coat of epoxy to provide a bit more stability to the veneer fibers to make them less likely to be damaged in subsequent operations. I don't see any downside to doing this, but my inexperience tends to bit me inna butt so I thought I'd post the idea here and see if I get a "dope-slap"!

Thanks.

[John Clifford]

I guess if you're going to coat it with epoxy anyway, there is no reason not to use that. If it were me, I would put a coat of shellac on it. That's enough to keep the tape from lifting fibers (assuming you're careful with removing the tape). When I'm feeling cautious, I shellac the top and back before binding the edges, so the binding tape won't pull up fibers.

[Barry Daniels]

I thought that I have seen many people say that shellac should never be used under epoxy. I could be wrong on that.

I agree with John that you would be fine if you pre-seal the wood with epoxy, and then use it again as a pre-finish pore fill coat. Long set epoxy is very compatible with itself as long as you sand the surface completely just before recoating.

[Steve Sawyer]

Thanks, gentlemen!

[Clay Schaeffer]

Since you are just trying to keep the tape from pulling wood fibers you might want to make a "rubber" and apply the epoxy like french polish- a thin smooth coat. Dilute the epoxy 10 % with alcohol.

[Steve Sawyer]

Clay - the deed is done. I simply smeared the epoxy onto the surface, let it soak in a bit then squeegee'd it off. Thanks for the advice, but my limited experience is that wood soaks up epoxy like a sponge, so (and i could be wrong) I'm not sure thinning would accomplish much.