Mention the world ‘veneer’ to some woodworkers, and they may turn their nose up at you. “That’s for cheap, mass produced furniture. I only use REAL wood!”

Well, surprise. Veneer IS real wood, applying it is a venerable woodworking skill to master and there’s a website that can show you just how impressive veneered projects can look.

Joe Gorleski, Jr, – known far and wide as Joe Woodworker – is a retailer of fine wood veneers that can take a woodworking project from nice to Woah!

Joe’s beginnings in woodworking were pretty humble. “I had inherited a used jigsaw that was gathering dust in my parent’s basement. One evening, we were cleaning out the basement and I had to decide if I wanted to keep the jigsaw or toss it out. I saw this pine board lying on the floor, grabbed a pencil and drew a pig shape on the board. I cut it out with the jigsaw and I discovered that I loved it!” Within a few days, Joe had plunked down some of his hard-earned cash and bought some other essential tools. The woodworking bug had bit him hard, but the biggest discovery was yet to come.

“Veneer is definitely cool. It has dramatically affected the way I look at wood. I used to spend hours at our local saw mill looking through hundreds of freshly dried boards to find anything unusual. The hard part was finding enough lumber with character to make a project. Now when I buy lumber, I look more often for perfectly un-figured boards so I can highlight any veneered portion of a project and keep the visual focus on these truly figured parts.”

 And, what figured parts they are! The selection of wood species available is stunning. Walnut burls, fiddleback maple and sapele pommele are just some of the stunning offerings on the site. It seems that you can find exactly what you need – regardless of your requirement for wood color, figure or even cost. Some breathtaking veneer lots can be found for cheap – offering multiple sheets for book matching or other eye-catching effects.

For his first projects, Joe cobbled together a vacuum pump from plans he found online and by talking with other woodworkers. Since he was learning on his own, sometimes these early projects worked, other times, they didn’t. “Sure, there was trial and error. But, some of the techniques I’ve picked up from our gracious customers who very frequently share their success stories with me. One of the greatest things about woodworking is the incredible amount of sharing that goes on between woodworkers.”

From those humble beginnings, it didn’t take long for Joe to realize that he had way more veneer than he could ever use. “When I got to the point at which I was storing veneer under my bed, my wife and I realized it was time to let some of it go. Between veneer and vacuum press parts, we figured there was enough to get a small business going.”

Today, Joe’s commercial site VeneerSupplies.com provides quality veneers, equipment and – most importantly – know how to thousands of woodworkers around the world. “Our customers are quite varied. We have a lot of customers who are not woodworkers. They just want to veneer over something unsightly. I’ve had strange questions about veneering everything from refrigerators to turtle shells. I don’t recommend veneering your turtle!”

Veneering might sound intimidating – and expensive – at first. However, there are some affordable options that the hobby woodworker can look into. First is a glue called Heat Lock. By using this glue, veneer and a clothes iron, the average woodworker can get good results. The ancient art of hammer veneering is also an option. But, for woodworkers looking to really expand their veneer options, vacuum pumps are the easiest – and sometimes the best – option. Some build it yourself kits start at $150, and complete systems can run about $400.

 “Our website often conveys the image that we are a huge company. There’s a fine line between an average website and a professional one. I prefer to have a professional website but it’s not easy to communicate that we are still a small company consisting of just my wife Christine and myself. Our customers like the personal attention they get from us because it means that our answers and comments to their questions are always genuine.”

While Joe’s website is impressive, his personal approach with customers can leave some people a little off guard. “I always smile when someone calls to place an order and asks my name. When I say “Joe”, they always reply “the Joe?” I can’t help but smile because I’m thinking who else would answer the phone in my shop?”

What separates an ‘OK’ woodworker from one who has a passion for the craft? Sometimes, it’s as simple as encountering someone who can show a new, interesting way of looking at things. For Wood Magazine’s contributing craftsman Jim Heavey, showing the way for others is something that – due to a family tragedy – he took to at an early age.

Jim’s dad passed away when he was in grade school. Out of necessity, Jim assumed a leadership role as the man of the house at an very early age. “Being the oldest of seven kids in a household with very little money, repairs and projects around the house fell to me. I think that it was there that I developed an appreciation for woodworking and the sense of accomplishment that completing a project brings.”

Later in his life, Jim’s leadership ability again came to the fore. He even served as his children’s school board president for 16 years – all this after doing his ‘day job’ as a firefighter. His years at this important position allowed him to hone his presentation skills considerably. “Having audiences both happy and irate – sometimes at the same time – kept me on my toes and helped me develop a style that people seem to enjoy. I don’t take myself too seriously and I think that I can relate to my audiences.”

Does he ever! Jim’s easily approachable style allowed him to marry his love of woodworking and presenting when he landed a position doing tool demonstrations for the Skil tool company at the now-defunct Builder’s Square home improvement stores. When Bosch bought Skil, Jim’s expertise was recognized, and he was chosen to present at national shows. One day in 1996 at one of these national shows, a Wood Magazine representative approached Jim to fill in for an ailing presenter. The rest, as they say, is history.

Jim has been teaching at the Woodworking Shows for Wood Magazine ever since. You can find Jim at the Wood Magazine demonstration booth, teaching tips and techniques to dozens of very interested woodworkers. While you might assume his presentations are just tool or magazine sales pitches, Jim always keep his focus firmly on helping the audience learn new techniques. “What I enjoy the most is being able to bring enough content to the presentations to touch some aspect in every attendee’s shop experience. We have a wide skill level in attendance at the shows and I am so glad when people will say, ‘Thanks, I learned something new today.’ The challenge is to remember that I’m not selling the tools, I’m imparting knowledge. A good tool sells itself and I’ll use it to its best advantage but I want them to learn something.”

Learn something they do. The day I met Jim at the Woodworking Show in Tampa, he was demonstrating a very simple yet elegant way to embellish a project by using an applique technique.

By cutting a shape out of a contrasting piece of wood – a leaf pattern, for example – and gluing it on the surface of the project, then sanding it down to about one sixteenth of an inch with a belt sander, anyone can create an interesting design feature with minimal work.

“I do like to watch the faces of the attendees when they see that a topic I’m talking about suddenly look so simple to them. It’s that ‘ah-ha’ moment. My hope is that attendees will try some of the techniques that I use. When they find success, they will take one more step that brings additional success. It’s very rewarding to talk to someone who had watched and tried something that they learned come back the following year even more excited about their craft.”

What’s the toughest part of the job? “The traveling part can be very tiresome. There seems to be a different TSA standard in each of the 30+ airports I’ll see in a season.”

“But,” Jim continues,”when you see the crowds at the door, you know it’s show time. They expect a good experience and I really do enjoy giving it to them.”

“In the end, a one on one discussion with a fellow woodworker brings out our commonality regardless of locale. It must be in the wood,” Jim laughs, “or maybe it’s the high from applying lacquer.”