> On Jan 22, 2018, at 5:38 PM, Joseph Sullivan  wrote:
> 
> Meanwhile, though, I have these panels and slabs.  Seems to me that 1/8
> crotch is not inherently all that strong.  Do you think that at 1/8 I can
> treat it as veneer and hard-glue it to a substrate?  I am under the
> impression that some old sawn veneer (as opposed to sliced) was about that
> thick if not more so.  How about the 3/8?  If so, how would you or any
> galoot reading this orient the grain of the substrate?
> 
> Any thoughts?

I have worked with some Sycamore burl. It was cut on a bandsaw mill and then run
thru a wide belt sander till it was flat and 5/16” thick.

Here are the tables I made:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/77280442@N.../17151098276/in/album-721576
51948412996/">https://www.flickr.com/photos/77280442@N.../17151098276/in/album-7
2157651948412996/
Album here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/77280442@N.../albums/72157651
948412996/with/17176432911/">https://www.flickr.com/photos/77280442@N.../albums/
72157651948412996/with/17176432911/

Later I made a box using some leftover material:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/77280442@N.../albums/72157656333193606

This is burl and the grain runs every which way. About 50% of what you see in
the pics is end grain. Very brittle stuff. For the tables I glued it to 3/8”
plywood, then planed it down to about 3/16” thickness of burl, i.e., a thick
veneer. Almost three years and the tops have held up well.

The box was done a short time later. I glued the burl to the ply, then re-sawed
them so they were balanced at about 3/16 of each. I planed the veneer off the
edges to make the ply a tongue and inserted that into a groove ploughed into the
sides of the box. I know you are supposed to veneer both sides but what is ply
if not a veneer already? It has worked fine.

Hope some ideas here may help.

Bill