Veneered MDF Sheets

What veneered MDF is

Veneered MDF is a slice of real timber glued to a fibreboard core. The face is genuine oak, ash, walnut, cherry, maple or mahogany, and it sands, oils and lacquers as the solid species does. What sits underneath is the point: a board that stays flat, holds its width and comes in sheets far wider than any plank, so wide doors and long counter fronts do not move the way solid timber would.

Every board is veneered on both faces. The second face balances the pull of the glue and the finish on the show side, and without it a wide panel would curl towards the veneer as it dried. That is also why you finish both sides of a panel, even when one will never be seen.

The veneer is crown cut, meaning the log was sliced tangentially to give the broad arched figure most people picture in oak or walnut. It is graded A/B: one face is selected for clear finishing and the back is sound but plainer, which is the grade specified for visible joinery.

The core is still MDF, so these are dry interior boards. Keep them out of bathrooms, utility rooms and anywhere that gets wet, because a veneered face does nothing to stop the core swelling. None of them is structural, whatever the thickness.

Veneered MDF species

We carry six species. White oak is the default and the only one held in every thickness, while the other five are held in 19 mm for doors, carcasses and panelling. Veneer is a natural product, so colour varies between production runs.

• White oak (4 to 39 mm): pale golden brown with a straight, open grain, and it takes hardwax oil or clear lacquer without argument; 19 mm oak veneered MDF is what most oak faced joinery is built from
• Ash (7 mm and 19 mm): close to white with strong sweeping figure, and it lifts a dark room in a way oak does not
• Maple (19 mm): cream to pale tan, fine and almost featureless, chosen when the joinery should disappear; a plain face shows every dent, so the work has to be tidy
• Walnut (19 mm): deep chocolate with purple and grey through it, and it lightens with exposure rather than darkening; see walnut veneered MDF
• Cherry (19 mm): arrives pale pinkish tan and ripens to a deep warm red within months, so expose every panel for a job together; see cherry veneered MDF
• Mahogany (19 mm): warm red brown with a quiet straight grain, and the easiest of the six to match into period joinery

Veneered MDF thicknesses and sheet sizes

Thickness decides what the board can do, from bending round a curve to reading as a solid slab. The full ladder is in white oak, and weights below are for a 2440×1220 mm sheet from our product data.

Oak veneered MDF thicknesses

• 4 mm (8.58 kg): curved cabinet ends and bath panels, bent to a gentle curve around a former and bonded to a substrate
• 7 mm (15.02 kg): panelling and door skins, stiff enough to stay flat over a light frame
• 12 mm (25.74 kg): panelling, cabinet backs and light shelving
• 16 mm (34.24 kg): buys back 3 mm on each side of a unit, which can decide whether a drawer box fits
• 19 mm (40.66 kg): doors, carcasses, drawer runners and cabinet hardware; the thickness a drawing assumes if it gives none
• 26 mm (55.64 kg): reception counters, desk tops, bar fronts and heavy shelving, with an edge deep enough to lip in solid oak
• 39 mm (83.65 kg): a slab, ordered when the depth of the piece is part of the design

Long sheets and the fire rated board

Standard sheets are 2440×1220 mm, roughly 8 by 4 feet, which is why the trade calls them 8×4. White oak and ash also come in 19 mm at 3050×1220 mm, because a cross joint in a timber face cannot be hidden: the grain will not run through it. On a full height wardrobe or panelled wall, the long sheet keeps that joint out of the show face. There is also a fire rated white oak veneered MDF board at 19 mm in 3050×1220 mm, for hotels, schools and escape routes where a timber face must meet a reaction to fire class.

Veneered MDF vs veneered plywood and Querkus

If the face is going to be painted, there is no reason to pay for timber on it, and standard MDF sheets are the board for that. Where you want real wood, the choice is about the core and the look.

• Veneered MDF: the flattest core, a crisp machined edge and six species in 19 mm
• Plywood core: veneered plywood puts a real timber face on a lighter plywood core
• One oak character across a whole scheme: Querkus MDF is a brushed oak faced panel made so the grain does not fall into an obvious repeat across doors and panelling

Cutting, edging and finishing veneered MDF

Veneer is thinner than most people expect, so the work is about protecting the face at every step, from the first cut to the last coat of finish.

• Cutting: score the face along the line before the main pass, use a sharp fine tooth blade, and keep the good face up on a table saw or down on a plunge saw
• Support: hold the sheet along the whole cut, because a panel that flexes across the line tears out underneath
• Edging: iron on edging in a matching species is fine on concealed edges, while a solid timber lipping is better wherever an edge is seen or handled, fitted before final sanding
• Sanding: go to 180 or 240 grit and stop, since an orbital sander goes through a corner in seconds
• Finishing: test on an offcut first, because cherry and walnut look darker under oil and most oils push maple towards yellow

Veneered MDF in Dublin and across Ireland

Every veneered MDF sheet on this page is held in our North Dublin warehouse for collection or delivery across Ireland. The long sheets are a two person lift of about 51 kg, so measure the route into the building before they arrive. The moisture resistant, fire retardant and coloured grades are in our full range of MDF boards.