I like to design and build my own. I usually use foam wings covered with obeche veneer, but that material seems to have become extinct.
Does anyone know if our traditional obeche veneer is still made, and where? And does anyone have a reliable source for it anywhere in Europe, USA or the World?
Alasdair

Since I still find it covering some ARF foam wings and in some ARF plywoods.... obeche veneer is still made somewhere.

Obeche is very similar to what is called "Luan" over here. (not sure if that is a type of tree, or a type of mohogany... its VERY similar to low grade mohogany) That may make a decent substitute... Where we typically find the Luan is in a "doorskin" (similar to thick "Lite Ply" or underlayment (a bit heavier but about the same thickness as the "doorskin" at appx 5 to 6 mm) plywood.

So FH,

Where does one find this "doorskin"? I've asked at about every Lowe's, Home Depot ect. and they all look at me like I've lost it. I quit mentioning it was for "little tiny airplanes" long ago.

Jetts

There should be specialty lumber stores in your area that carry veneers. Unless I was building something really huge, I wouldn't use this stuff for wing sheeting because it is heavier than necessary. .60 sized pattern planes do very well with carbon strip "spars" below 3/32" balsa sheeting. I don't think anything could be simpler, lighter, stronger and still relatively cheap [for a foam wing technique].

<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; "><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding-top: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 5px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; ">If you're interested , you can find obeche veneer atOakwood Veneer. Find Obeche directly at theObeche Veneerpage.

Hope this helps.
</div></span>David Rodgers

looks like someone found us via google. two posts, both on obeche. i wonder if he can help me with my composite molding question? [X(]

From Wiki Answers:
Obeche
* Latin name: Triplochiton scleroxylon
* Family: Sterculiaceae
* Common names: Abachi wood, Obeche wood, African maple wood, Samba wood, Ayous wood. (and apparently Blonde Sapeli)

20 years ago I shopping for obeche and the guy I was talking to called it "African Samba Wood", so that may be a common term for it, and a thin veneer product can also be referred to as "flitch stock".

Hollow core door skins and underlayment plywoods are usually "philippine mahogany"

Wikipedia:
In the US, Philippine mahogany, aka lauan, is the common name for a wood yielded by some species of the genus Shorea, or perhaps more accurately the name for a group of woods. These are medium density woods, with rather favorable properties, but they are not a mahogany, nor are they comparable in quality. It is not necessarily imported from the Philippines, nor is it limited to species which occur in the Philippines. COMMON NAMES: Lauan, Philippine mahogany, meranti, red meranti, white meranti

This stuff would make a poor veneer for foam wings. A single thin ply is very unstable (wavy) and splinters easily. Strength across the fairly open grain is very poor.

Dave