Veneer Cores

Veneer logs are usually very high quality, highly figured sections of tree with very few defects. The logs are mounted on a rotating machine similar to a lathe. it has a long knife the length of the bed. When the log turns, the knife sheers a very thin layer off of the surface.

Veneer cores are what’s left when all of the veneer has been peeled from a veneer log. It’s like an apple core. When the diameter of the log is too small to make anymore veneer. The ones I’ve gotten are five or six inches in diameter. Pictured below are several veneer cores I’ve bought. They are waiting to become bowls.

In the first picture you can see that I cut a flat on the bottom. That keeps the core from trying to roll when I slice off a bowl sized piece off the end.

The picture below is a birdseye maple core too! It’s a good bit longer but it has a crack I will have to work around.

This picture is a birdseye redwood core. There are two bowls left in this one. I will slice it through the middle and make a bowl from each half.

The final picture of a birdseye maple bowl made from the core with the flat in the first picture.