Before I start to spend money on more wood I am really interested in the look of veneer is there anything I need to look for when picking the plywood such as thins like the core?
Do you mean you want to laminate an existing plywood with veneer prior to cutting?
Generally you need to go with an unfinished substrate, so like a baltic birch plywood or MDF.
As for gluing up the veneer, I like the hot iron method, but beware that if you try to veneer only one side you’ll likely get some warping.
If you’re talking about pocket engraving for veneer inlay, the same advice holds, baltic birch and MDF are good options.
Not really sure what you’re asking.
Plywood is typically veneer with an MDF core. Proofgrade plywood is that way, for example. Higher quality plywood is often stacked/laminated veneer.
and if you’re asking about choosing plywoods based on the veneer being pretty, but are worried about what is in the core - then yes, lots of voids/glue/repairs can be hard/impossible for a laser to cut through.
You can sometimes pick up a piece of plywood and shine a very strong flashlight through it - the inconsistencies will show up (presuming the veneer isn’t really really dark). Generally a single type of plywood will be consistently good or consistently bad.
Proofgrade is always good - and comes pre-masked - because they spent a huge amount of time finding a vendor who would make them something that was guaranteed to be good.
I should specify that I am more concerned on if there are course that should not be used and which course are more reliable to cut through MDF or the birch I have also Found some with synthetic course which I do not feel are safe with the different types of Glues
Baltic Birch is probably your best substrate for gluing up veneer, mainly due to the consistency of the wood / core. Do a search on the forums and look for baltic birch threads. I personally have had really good luck with both Rockler (expensive unless there’s a sale) and Amazon.
I don’t use them for veneer, but very much like the Baltic birch ply from Ocooch.
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