I've been building a murphy bed cabinet out of baltic birch plywood (I like the visible layers on the edges). I bought/cut sheets of 4'x8' for this purpose. One side is clear, and the other side has several irregular patches. All but one of the plywood pieces has only one side showing, so the patches are mostly irrelevant. One of the upright side pieces, however, will have both sides visible, so I want to hide the patches on that side.

This side piece that has the visible patches is 16" x 88.25" and the plywood is nominally 3/4" thick.

I figured I would

• put a birch veneer on the one side with the patches,
• leave the other side as is, and
• seal it with 3+ coats of water based polyurethane (no stain).

Note that ALL sides (front, back, and 4 edges) of each piece will get the water-based poly finish, including sides/edges that will not be visible once the murphy bed cabinet is assembled.

I have never applied veneer before, so I am researching to figure out which product(s) I should use. Only that created even more questions.

Can I put veneer on just one side of the baltic birch plywood? Or do I need to do both sides?

Does the answer to this depend on the type of veneer (paper-backed, vs wood-backed), or on the adhesive used to attach the veneer (3m peel&stick, wood glue, contact cement, ...)? In other words, is there a veneer product that does not require applying the veneer to both sides of the Baltic Birch ply?

I saw a question about laminate on 2 vs 1 side, but I'm not sure if that advice applies to veneer or to my use of baltic birch (thus no voids, unlike typical hardwood plywood): Do I need to laminate both sides of plywood or can I coat one side and laminate the other

I've been building a murphy bed cabinet out of baltic birch plywood (I like the visible layers on the edges). I bought/cut sheets of 4'x8' for this purpose. One side is clear, and the other side has several irregular patches. All but one of the plywood pieces has only one side showing, so the patches are mostly irrelevant. One of the upright side pieces, however, will have both sides visible, so I want to hide the patches on that side.

This side piece that has the visible patches is 16" x 88.25" and the plywood is nominally 3/4" thick (it has 13 plys/layers).

I figured I would

• put a birch veneer on the one side with the patches,
• leave the other side as is, and
• seal it with 3+ coats of water based polyurethane (no stain).

Note that ALL sides (front, back, and 4 edges) of each piece will get the water-based poly finish, including sides/edges that will not be visible once the murphy bed cabinet is assembled.

I have never applied veneer before, so I am researching to figure out which product(s) I should use. Only that created even more questions.

Can I put veneer on just one side of the baltic birch plywood? Or do I need to do both sides?

Does the answer to this depend on the type of veneer (paper-backed, vs wood-backed), or on the adhesive used to attach the veneer (3m peel&stick, wood glue, contact cement, ...)? In other words, is there a veneer product that does not require applying the veneer to both sides of the Baltic Birch ply?

I saw a question about laminate on 2 vs 1 side, but I'm not sure if that advice applies to veneer or to my use of baltic birch (thus no voids, unlike typical hardwood plywood): Do I need to laminate both sides of plywood or can I coat one side and laminate the other

I've been building a murphy bed cabinet out of baltic birch plywood (I like the visible layers on the edges). I bought/cut sheets of 4'x8' for this purpose. One side is clear, and the other side has several irregular patches. All but one of the plywood pieces has only one side showing, so the patches are mostly irrelevant. One of the upright side pieces, however, will have both sides visible, so I want to hide the patches on that side.

This side piece that has the visible patches is 16" x 88.25" and the plywood is nominally 3/4" thick.

I figured I would

• put a birch veneer on the one side with the patches,
• leave the other side as is, and
• seal it with 3+ coats of water based polyurethane (no stain).

Note that ALL sides (front, back, and 4 edges) of each piece will get the water-based poly finish, including sides/edges that will not be visible once the murphy bed cabinet is assembled.

I have never applied veneer before, so I am researching to figure out which product(s) I should use. Only that created even more questions.

Can I put veneer on just one side of the baltic birch plywood? Or do I need to do both sides? Does the answer to this depend on the type of veneer (paper-backed, vs wood-backed), or on the adhesive used to attach the veneer (3m peel&stick, wood glue, contact cement, ...)?

I saw a question about laminate on 2 vs 1 side, but I'm not sure if that advice applies to veneer or to my use of baltic birch (thus no voids, unlike typical hardwood plywood): Do I need to laminate both sides of plywood or can I coat one side and laminate the other

The paper-backed 3M peel-and-stick looks like a great option, because I want to minimize off-gassing / VOCs. (Lower VOCs is also part of why I picked the water-based polyurethane for the clear coat). But, I read someone's review of a veneer that said the water-based polyurethane made the veneer detach from the paper backing. Can I do something to prevent that?

What other trade-offs do I need to think about in determining what veneer+adhesive to use (if any)?

I've been building a murphy bed cabinet out of baltic birch plywood (I like the visible layers on the edges). I bought/cut sheets of 4'x8' for this purpose. One side is clear, and the other side has several irregular patches. All but one of the plywood pieces has only one side showing, so the patches are mostly irrelevant. One of the upright side pieces, however, will have both sides visible, so I want to hide the patches on that side.

This side piece that has the visible patches is 16" x 88.25" and the plywood is nominally 3/4" thick.

I figured I would

• put a birch veneer on the one side with the patches,
• leave the other side as is, and
• seal it with 3+ coats of water based polyurethane (no stain).

Note that ALL sides (front, back, and 4 edges) of each piece will get the water-based poly finish, including sides/edges that will not be visible once the murphy bed cabinet is assembled.

I have never applied veneer before, so I am researching to figure out which product(s) I should use. Only that created even more questions.

Can I put veneer on just one side of the baltic birch plywood? Or do I need to do both sides? 

Does the answer to this depend on the type of veneer (paper-backed, vs wood-backed), or on the adhesive used to attach the veneer (3m peel&stick, wood glue, contact cement, ...)? In other words, is there a veneer product that does not require applying the veneer to both sides of the Baltic Birch ply?

I saw a question about laminate on 2 vs 1 side, but I'm not sure if that advice applies to veneer or to my use of baltic birch (thus no voids, unlike typical hardwood plywood): Do I need to laminate both sides of plywood or can I coat one side and laminate the other