Veneer panels: How sustainably sourced timber veneer can enhance a space

Consistency is key in this new offering from Bestwood. The uniformity of the grain, texture and colour of these engineered oak panels offer significant benefits for specifiers and joiners when using oak for their projects, Johnny says.

“It’s an engineered veneer, made to look like American oak,” says Johnny. “It allows us to do what nature hasn’t for a long time: and that’s provide a decorative panel with a consistent straight grain, central crowns, and uniformity.” 

He says it works particularly well in commercial builds, or in residences where people want to carry a continuous colour or look throughout the home.

“Whether it’s a fit-out of offices or retail, clients can have confidence in the end result – they’ll know exactly what it's going to look like when stained or polished.”

The Evoake range features standard repeatable oak veneer layons in both crown cut and quarter cut, reducing wastage on panel matching, especially for projects using crown cut oak. With six crowns on each panel in the same direction, the result is assured, not only with the grain but also in terms of colour consistency.

“The Evoake veneer layons are sustainably sourced and are made in Italy to a proven high standard," says Johnny. "They’ve been tested using a variety of stain finishes to ensure they perform the same as Bestwood Natural Veneer.

“And as with all timber veneer panels, they are supplied with a coarse sand from our veneer line but will require a further sand by a coating professional before staining and coating.”

Where the Evoake panels project consistency, this offering evokes nature.

Hand-crafted to emulate the look of solid timber, Prime Toitū panels use mismatched leaves in a planked effect, resulting in considerable variation between panels – which Johnny says works especially well for large scale cabinetry projects with a focus on authenticity.

The range also includes six New Zealand-native timbers, along with American White Oak, Macrocarpa and American Walnut.

“Toitū has a wonderful look – the panels aren’t brushed, as we can’t brush native timbers because they’re not hard enough in the growth rings," says Johnny. "This means it really replicates solid timber, but in a much more cost-effective way: a cubic metre of solid timber would give me 100 square metres of wall panelling, while a cubic metre of the Toitū would give me almost ten times as much.”

All of the different varieties in Toitū veneer carry Environmental Choice NZ accreditation, and come in panels sizes up to 2750mm x 1220mm depending on the MDF or plywood substrate chosen. 

The panels are also from certifiably sustainable sources, backed with the added advantage of the company’s exclusive Track my Tree initiative for NZ Native species- a code can be used on the Prime Panels or Bestwood websites, to identify exactly where each tree came from via Google Maps, view the logging permit and tree source i.e. windblown or plantation grown.

This is an especially rewarding prospect for Johnny, who has been working with native timber in some way or another for most of his career.

“It’s really exciting for me,” he says. “I’m a cabinet maker by trade, so using native timbers again, and doing it this way, is fantastic because of the potential versatility of it – there are multiple timbers to choose from, and people can use these panels to make classic designs, contemporary designs, anything really.

“That’s what I love to see.”

Learn more about NZ Panels and its Bestwood and Prime Panels brands.