A wood veneer is a thin slice of wood cut as thin as 1/40 of an inch and is used for gluing onto other wood, particle board or MDF producing flat panels for doors, tops and panels for cabinets, parquet floors, parts of furniture, edge banding and marquetry.

 Veneers are obtained by turning the trunk of a tree against a sharp blade on a rotary lathe producing a continuous or semi-continuous roll. Rotary-cut veneer is mainly used for plywood. Alternatively, high quality veneers are made by slicing large rectangular blocks of wood known as flitches. This slicing method gives a more beautiful cut of the grain and provides a broader use of the veneer. In either of the veneer producing methods, a distortion of the grain occurs. As it hits the wood, the knife blade creates a "loose" side where the cells have been opened up by the blade, and a "tight" side.

 Veneers are of several types;

• Raw veneer has no backing on it and can be used with either side up. (It is important to note that the two sides will appear different when a finish has been applied, due to the cell structure of the wood as well as the loose and tight sides created by the slicing.
• Paper Backed veneer is backed with a paper. The advantage is that it is available in larger sizes than the leaves from a flitch. Smaller pieces are joined together prior to adding the backing.
• Phenolic Backed veneer is less common and is used for composite, or man made wood veneers. Due to concern for the natural resource, this is becoming more popular. It too has the advantage of being available in sheets, and is also less likely to crack when being used on curves.
• Laid Up veneer is raw veneer, which has been joined together to make larger pieces. The process is time consuming and requires great care, but is not difficult.
  

Veneers can be laid up by:

• Book Matched - where the veneers are opened from the flitch much like the pages of a book.
• Slip Matched - where the pieces are joined together in the order they come from the flitch, and have the same face kept up.
• Radial Matched - where the veneer is cut into wedge shaped pieces and joined together.
• Diamond Matched - where the pattern formed is diamond shaped.

  The preferred method for gluing veneer onto the substrate is by using a vacuum press, where glue is placed on the plywood and the veneer is set on top. The panel is then placed inside a bag and the air from within the bag is removed with a vacuum system. A vacuum press is capable of producing over 1700 pounds per square foot of pressure at full capacity, giving uniform pressure on the veneer and the substrate.