Minimizing Glue Bleeding Through Veneer

Tips for keeping certain glue formulas from bleeding through veneer. June 8, 2011

Question
I have been veneering for the past year for certain jobs, and I have always used Unibond as this seems to be a very high quality glue. The problem is that it seems to bleed through most of the veneers I have used. My latest trouble is on about 45 panels of cherry for a kitchen I am building. I started to spray the dye on the panels yesterday, and sure enough there are glue spots in many areas and I will have to scrap these panels.

I am wondering if there are any ways to stop the bleed through. I use a 4 to 1 ratio of resin to catalyst as recommended on the label, and I even tried a ratio of 2.5 to 1 on a test panel yesterday and it still bled through. Are there other glues out there that wont bleed through as much?

I am looking for options as this problem seems to be continuing and I do a fair amount of stain work. If I were only spraying clear finishes I don’t think it would be a problem. I am using a vacuum press for my veneering.

Forum Responses
(Veneer Forum)
From contributor P:
You should use less glue, or you could use a backed veneer. Run some tests to determine the optimum amount of glue. A single pass on the substrate only using a foam roller is a good start. I use the 6" Whizzer brand rollers.