Veneers Made Simple

Wood veneer is a thin slice of wood glued to a stable base (such as plywood or MDF). Shop‑sawn veneer is sawn from solid boards in our shop rather than purchased pre‑sliced. Because it’s thicker (typically around 1/16 inch or more), it can be sanded and refinished over time, and the grain can be sequenced across large surfaces. For comparison, industrial veneers are often less than 1/40 inch thick.

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How do board feet relate to square feet?

Lumber is sold by board feet (BF)—a volume equal to a board

12″ × 12″ × 1″ thick. To estimate how many square feet of veneer can be produced, divide by the thickness:

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Square feet (SF) = Board feet (BF) ÷ Thickness (in inches)

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For example, a 1″‑thick board covers roughly 1 sq ft; and a 1/2″‑thick board covers about 2 sq ft per board foot. In practice, cutting veneer wastes material at each pass of the saw blade. To avoid shortages, we conservatively estimate that one board foot yields about 3 sq ft of 1/16 inch veneer. A full 4 × 8 ft panel (32 sq ft per side) requires two faces—so for 64 sq ft of veneer we plan on using about 22 board feet of lumber.