Darryl Keil Last Activity 2026-05-18 8:07 PM
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Dave in Texas

Posts: 16

Joined: 2003-11-06
Location: Central Texas

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Subject : Cauls of all sizes
Posted : 2004-07-20 9:32 AM
Post #31658
Do y'all make new cauls for all flat work pressing?
I am building a bunch of small boxes and table tops and was wondering if I need to make a caul for each piece that I press?/??

Thanks
Dave



 
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Paula

Posts: 37

Joined: 2004-05-22

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Subject : RE: Cauls of all sizes
Posted : 2004-07-21 7:17 AM
Post #31659 - In reply to #31658
I recently started veneering, and I've been following a suggestion on joewoodworker.com. I've made a small, medium, and a large set of cauls, and I fill up the space around the piece I'm veneering with blocks of my substrate material (in my case MDF). It seems to work pretty well. A couple of caveats, though. I've found it much easier to deal with a couple of large spacer blocks rather than a lot of small ones, because they slide around and can be trouble to deal with when glue is drying. Second, it really is true that you have to be careful not to leave too much overhang around the edge. I had a spacer shift on me when I was putting everything into the bag, and after I turned on the vacuum, watched a 3/4" caul snap right off at the end.


 
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Darryl Keil

Posts: 1462

Joined: 2003-05-22
Location: Maine

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Subject : RE: Cauls of all sizes
Posted : 2004-07-21 9:50 PM
Post #31662 - In reply to #31658
Dave,

Its only the top caul that needs to be sized to the work unless you use Paula's idea. Since the bottom caul can be any size you can press just one side at a time and never need to cut different size cauls. Remember that you must veneer the back side immediately after finishing the front side pressing or the panel may warp.

Also, if your bottom caul is considerably larger than the panel your pressing be sure to keep it withing 1/4"of one edge of the caul. A panel set out in the middle of a much larger caul can cause the bag to gasket on the caul and prevent full vacuum at the panel because there are no platen grooves near by to draw the air out. Keeping the panel close to one edge of the caul will solve this potential problem since you are now near the platen grooves.

Sincerely
Darryl Keil


 
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Ed Milne

Posts: 2

Joined: 2006-07-29

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Subject : RE: Cauls of all sizes
Posted : 2006-07-29 11:06 AM
Post #33223 - In reply to #31662
I have been vacuum pressing for several years now, and whenever possible, I use Darryl's method of pressing the active side down, for the exact reason that there will be no need for a caul. Much of what I press is sheet stock of various sizes/veneers for the casework/displays I build, so it is fairly easy to do this.


 
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Don Stephan

Posts: 825

Joined: 2003-07-18
Location: Cincinnati, Ohio

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Subject : RE: Cauls of all sizes
Posted : 2006-07-09 4:02 PM
Post #33172 - In reply to #31658
As a general rule I keep a stack of used 1/4" cauls and trim an old one to fit or cut a new one when pressing. Recently I pressed a couple test panels, one with a 1/4" top caul and one with a 3/4" top caul, and then belt sanded off the veneer after 24 hours. The glue line seemed flat and consistent on both, so I'll continue using 1/4" melamine or MDF for cauls.

Using oversized cauls will itself require cutting spacer stock for different sizes substrates; there will be more pieces to keep aligned in the bag; and the amount of stock in a 1/4" caul will be a small fraction of the overall cost of time and materials in the veneered product.
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