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I recently glued a highly figured piece of walnut burl veneer to the back of a peghead, including the curved volute. I wanted to use HHG which I am experienced with, but was uncomfortable with the short open time and the clamping setup I was using. So I decided to use LMI yellow glue, which worked fine, except... as is common with burl veneer, there were dozens of tiny pinholes. The glue squeezed into these and dried yellow. I spent a long time with a #11 xacto knife picking out the glue spots prior to grain filling. It came out well, but upon inspection with my trusty Optivisor I can still see a few I missed.

So question- would fish glue, with its longer open time, be the best glue for a situation like this? Does it dry clear like HHG? Would sealing the back side of the veneer prevent this issue while still allowing good glue adhesion?

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It will probably be alright.

Greg, I haven't had this particular problem, but I would approach it by pore filling with CA, then sanding to bare wood and gluing. That would seem to solve the problem with no risk of any adhesion problem with the LMI glue,
Mike

Epoxy is pretty easy to colour, Greg. If you were to colour it a shade of brown or black similar to the pin like knots and use it to apply the veneer, it would likely look good. I bet a drop of aniline dye would do it.

For hide glue and veneer, it's not too much of a challenge to apply 192g hide glue to the substrate, then position the veneer and iron it into place...the heat of the iron will remelt the hide and a shaped caul covered with package tape for easy release will help keep things in place. A hide glue size on the burl aids adhesion, but can cause some movement. As with other veneer work, any bubbles can be addressed with a slice in straight grain and a syringe with hide for a spot re-glue.

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Superbond Epoxy is good in this application. Spread it on thinly, scrape it even thinner with a squeegee or used gift card, then clamp on your veneer.

Same thing happened to me using the LMI glue and a nice walnut burl for a head stock. I've used this burl plenty of times before with Titebond too and don't recall having a problem. All the burl cracked lines that went through filled up with LMI glue and it looks not so good. I can't explain why I would not see this using Titebond unless perhaps the Titebond extracts some of the color out of the wood as it sets? The LMI is after all designed to be seen.

I use cold-press veneer glue from veneersupplies.com.
I apply with a roller. Fairly thin coat so it looks translucent.
The veneer glue dries hard and can be scraped and sanded if some seeps through holes and cracks.
It is available in dark and light color.

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You might test some scraps using Elmer's school glue, which I think is plenty strong for a decorative application. It dries translucent colorless, though it might react and color or turn white under some finishes.