Veneer Matching On Door Faces
Running Match
A non-symmetrical appearance in any single door face where side edge pieces of veneer are of unequal width. Each face is assembled from as many veneer pieces as necessary.
Veneer Yield: High
Balance Match
A symmetrical appearance where each face is assembled from pieces of uniform width before trimming.
Veneer Yield: Medium
Center Balance Match
A symmetrical appearance where each face has an even number of veneer pieces of uniform width before trimming. Thus, there is a veneer joint in the center of the face, producing symmetry.
Veneer Yield: Low
Veneer Matching Between Pieces
Slip Match
Adjoining pieces of veneer are placed in sequence without turning over every other piece. The grain figure repeats, but joints won’t show mirrored effect. Slip matching is recommended and often used in quarter and rift cut veneers to eliminate the barber pole effect. However, it may cause a sloping appearance of the veneer.
Book Match
The most commonly used match in the industry. Every other piece of veneer is turned over so adjacent pieces are like two adjacent pages in an open book. The veneer joints match and create a mirrored image at the joint line, yielding maximum continuity of grain. Because the “tight” and “loose” faces alternate in adjacent pieces of veneer they may accept stain or reflect light differently, and this may yield a noticeable color variation called Barber Poling. Barber pole is not considered a manufacturing defect.
Random Match
A face containing veneer strips of the same species which are selected and assembled without regard to color or grain, resulting in variations and contrasts in color and grain.