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Any recommendations for a power tool that can sand thin enough to make 0.20 veneers?

I have a Supermax drum sander, but it can only get down to about 0.040 before it makes contact with the table. I could stack the veneer on another piece of wood to get it down thinner, but then I wonder about consistent thickness along the entire piece.

I've made .020 veneer using a Wagner Safety planer, but I would not recommend it if you don't need to. A key word in considering any method is 'reliable'. 'Safe' is another...

If what you're looking for is strips for inlay in rosettes and purfling, those can be made with a draw scraper from thicker stock. You can go to .008" that way, and much thinner isn't much use anyway. Plan on more waste as you get thinner.

Strad et all apparently used a plane set up to make a heavy cut to make purfling strips. Wet the wood surface so that the chip breaker won't do it's job.

Hi Thomas,
What type of veneer are you trying to make? I might have an odd piece or two I can send you for the price of the postage.
If you are set on making your own the way to do that is get a piece of MDF and run it through the supermax until it is sanding the entire surface, and then keeping it in that orientation when running it through, lightly spray glue the piece you want to turn into veneer onto the MDF and sand it down until you reach the desired thickness. To remove the veneer use lacquer thinner to lift the edge and while lifting the edge mist lacquer thinner (or pour it) between the MDF and veneer to remove the veneer from the MDF backer board.
If you have a small spray gun, you will be cleaning your gun while removing the veneer. WIN-WIN!

What Clay said!

I have a grizzly 18 in thikness sander
that works very well

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I’ve been using a sled as well and using the masking tape and CA approach to hold it to the sled. It works really well, just make sure to use the wider mask g tape and burnish it a bit to make sure both sides are stuck down. Stays perfectly flat and easy to separate.


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Thanks, Clay. I didn’t think about surfacing the mdf first.

I make .6mm veneers on my performax22/44 easily. Just get a piece of wood 3/4” thick or so (or mdf), sand it flat. Then, spray glue some 220 paper to that. Then, using 80-100 grit paper on drum, sand ur veneer. Reverse direction for consistency. Light passes. Easy peasy.

Added thought. If you need a lot of veneer (I use a lot), consider this site: https://www.veneersupplies.com/categori ... d__Veneer/. They have great stuff. Love their ebony for sure.

Yeah, I buy it instead of making it. You can get some great stuff; natural wood or dyed veneers.