Gluing Macassar Ebony and Zebrawood Veneer

Questions about adhesive choices for veneering Ebony and Zebrawood onto Baltic Birch plywoodSeptember 6, 2010

Question
I have a few small pieces of Macassar ebony and zebrawood veneer that I would like to glue to Baltic birch with white glue. Are they too oily to glue with Elmer's white glue?

Forum Responses
(Veneer Forum)
From contributor A:
Zebrawood is not an oily wood. I've glued up lots of solid stock without problems. The solid wood develops occasional cracks, but not at the glue line. Since you're using veneer, Elmer's should work fine.

I've glued solid pieces of Macassar ebony years ago and had some occasional problems. I definitely wouldn't use Elmer's, but Titebond III should work well. I now use Titebond III for laminating solid exotic wood veneers (1/16" to 1/8" thick) to Baltic birch and haven't had any delamination problems. I have not had to wipe the woods down with acetone or do any other type of chemical preparation. Again, since you're using very thin veneer, you should be fine with Titebond III.

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From contributor M:
Sounds like a fun project. I would clean the Macassar ebony with lacquer thinner or naphtha before gluing it (let it dry first). The zebrawood will take glue just fine as it is.
Beware the splintery nature of zebrawood. It will split, chip and flake very easily. Zebrawood splinters in your hand also tend to hurt a lot more than your average birch splinter. Trust me! Also, zebrawood smells like zebra crap when you sand it. Not much of a problem, but you'll find out what I mean soon enough.

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From contributor S:
All Macassar ebony, all glued up with PVA in a vacuum; no problems.

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