"Crying" Spanish cedar veneer

Cleaning up and fabricating "crying" Spanish cedar veneer. June 14, 2000

Q.
We have a pallet of Spanish cedar veneer with resin or gum oozing out of it. The veneer is sticky and will stick to presses. Is there some way the veneer can still be made into faces and pressed into plywood?

---

That sticky ooze can be removed with lacquer thinner, and after it dries you can treat the veneer as normal. The resin is brought out by the veneer/wood being dry. If the moisture content was higher, the oozing of the resin would stop.

---

That oozing is called "crying," and is common in Spanish cedar.

The crying can occur at any time, sometimes when the species is freshly cut, or after it has been dried or cured.

Be careful when trying to clean the veneer, some solvents can leave stains, such as lacquer thinner and acetones. Denatured alcohol will not leave a stain, and should cut the resin. I suggest you try a small amount first. There is no guarantee that the crying will not return, because it natural.