Guides / Ordering

What to Put on a Veneer RFQ: Species, Cut, Thickness, Backing and Quantity

September 24, 2026

A veneer supplier can usually tell within a few minutes whether an RFQ is one they can quote. What takes the time, and what kills a request before it gets that far, is missing information. A request that says “need walnut veneer for cabinet doors” could mean a dozen different products at a dozen different prices, and most suppliers will not guess. They will either ask follow-up questions and wait for your reply, or they will skip the request and quote the one in the same inbox that already has everything they need.

The fix is not a longer email. It is a complete one. This checklist covers the seven pieces of information a veneer RFQ needs, in the order a supplier reads them, and ends with a short template you can copy, fill in and send.

Why a complete RFQ gets better quotes

Veneer pricing depends on more variables than most buyers expect: species, cut, leaf width, grade, backing, quantity and paperwork all move the number, sometimes by a wide margin. A supplier who is missing even one of these has two choices. They can quote a guess, which risks a price that changes once the real spec shows up, or they can write back and ask, which adds a day or two before your job even gets a number.

Buyers who are new to sourcing veneer sometimes leave fields blank because they are not sure of the answer yet. That is fine. The fix is to say so directly rather than to skip the line. “Cut not decided, prefer a straight grain with little figure” tells a supplier more than a blank field does, and it lets them suggest a cut instead of quoting nothing.

A complete RFQ also means the quotes you get back are easier to compare. When every supplier is pricing the same species, cut, thickness, grade and quantity, the number on the page is the number that matters. When each one filled a gap differently, you end up comparing five different products instead of one.

The seven spec fields behind the RFQ are explained in our guide to veneer specification.

1. Species and cut

Name the species and the cut on the same line. “Walnut” is a species. “Plain sliced walnut” or “quarter sliced walnut” is a product, and the two look and price differently. The same gap applies to oak, where rift, quarter and plain sliced are close to separate items, and to any species with a rotary option, which is usually the widest and lowest-cost version of that wood.

If you are not sure which cut you want, that is a normal starting point, not a problem. Describe the look instead: broad and varied, a straight formal stripe, a calm grain with almost no figure. Attach a photo if you have one, even a photo from a finished room rather than a spec sheet. A supplier who knows the cuts can usually match a photo to a name faster than a buyer can pick the right term from a list.

2. Form and backing

Say what product form you need, because this decides which kind of supplier can even quote you. Options include raw leaves sold by the bundle or flitch, thick-cut veneer, paper-backed sheets (commonly 10 mil or 20 mil paper), 2-ply wood-backed sheets, peel-and-stick (PSA) backed sheets, spliced faces built to your panel size, reconstituted veneer with a repeatable figure, and edgebanding in rolls.

If you have a press and splice your own panels, raw leaves or a flitch may be exactly right. If you have a press but no one to splice, a spliced face saves a step. If you have no press at all, you need a backed sheet, and the backing type matters: paper-backed sheets are common and economical, 2-ply wood-backed sheets have more dimensional stability for demanding applications, and PSA sheets go down without glue for smaller or faster jobs. Naming the form up front stops a slicer from quoting raw leaves to a shop that has no way to use them.

3. Thickness and sheet or leaf size

Raw veneer is typically sliced around 0.5 to 0.6 mm, though thicker cuts exist for some uses. Backed sheets are usually sold in standard sizes such as 4 x 8 ft or 4 x 10 ft, and confirming the sheet size avoids a mismatch with your panel layout.

For raw leaves and flitches, leaf width matters as much as thickness. Rift and quarter leaves run narrower than plain sliced leaves, and a design that calls for wide leaves with few seams needs a supplier with stock or a log large enough to deliver that. State your minimum usable leaf width and, if it matters, the minimum length, so a supplier with only short or narrow stock can say so before quoting rather than after you receive the crate.

4. Grade and match

State the grade you need and, if you know it, the standard behind it. In North America, hardwood plywood faces are often graded to ANSI/HPVA HP-1, and architectural millwork is often specified to the Architectural Woodwork Standards. Suppliers outside North America may grade to their own house standards, so ask what a given grade allows before you assume it matches a standard you know.

Also state the match: book matched, slip matched, balance matched, or random match with no sequence requirement. A sequence matched set, where leaves are kept and used in slicing order across a run of doors or a wall, is a different request from a set of leaves in no particular order, and it changes both price and lead time. If the job has a specification document that names a grade or match, attach it or quote the exact language so the supplier is pricing the same rule your client will inspect against.

5. Quantity and waste allowance

Give the quantity in the unit that fits the form: square footage for raw leaves and flitches, sheet count for backed sheets, roll length for edgebanding. If you are working from a drawing set rather than a finished takeoff, a count of doors or panels with their sizes is enough for a first quote.

Add a waste allowance on top of the net square footage. Most shops add 10 to 20 percent for straight, non-matched work, and more for sequence matched walls, curved substrates or species with a lot of natural variation to sort around. Agree the allowance with the supplier rather than guessing, because a second batch ordered later rarely matches the first, especially from a different flitch or log.

For the quantity line, see how much veneer to order, and for the full buying path our guide to wholesale wood veneer.

6. Paperwork

Paperwork decides who can supply you at all, so it belongs on the RFQ, not in a follow-up email after you have already picked a favorite quote.

If the job calls for certified material, ask for FSC or PEFC chain of custody documentation and confirm the supplier can show the claim on the invoice. The Forest Stewardship Council publishes its certification standards and a public database of certificate holders, which is useful for confirming a claim rather than taking it on trust. These are typical rules, not a guarantee: certification status and permit requirements can change by species and by shipment, and this is not legal advice.

A small number of species, including several rosewoods and ebonies, are listed under CITES and need export and import permits to cross borders. If your species might be one of them, ask the supplier directly and get the permit details in writing before you commit to a ship date, since approval timelines are outside anyone’s control on either side of the deal.

Veneer imported into the United States generally needs a Lacey Act declaration stating species and country of harvest. Buyers in the EU may need due diligence documentation under EU timber regulations. Ask your supplier what they can provide before you assume any of this will show up automatically with the shipment.

7. Delivery

Give the ship-to address and the date you need the veneer on site, not just the date you would like a quote. Lead time varies a lot by form: backed sheets from stock can ship in days, while a custom spliced face or a flitch cut to order from a mill can take several weeks. If the date is fixed, for example tied to a fabrication schedule, say so, because a supplier who cannot meet it should tell you now rather than after the deposit.

Ask how the shipment will be packed. Veneer should travel flat, between boards or in a crate, not rolled unless it is a paper-backed product made to roll. Ask for the freight cost to your door as part of the quote. A low price per square foot on a small order can disappear once crating and freight to a distant address are added, so ask for a landed number rather than comparing bare unit prices.

Copy and paste template

Fill in the brackets and send this as the body of your email or RFQ form.

Species and cut: [e.g. rift white oak, or "not sure, see attached photo"]
Form: [raw leaves / flitch / paper-backed sheet / 2-ply wood-backed sheet / PSA sheet / spliced face / edgebanding / recon]
Backing (if applicable): [10 mil paper / 20 mil paper / 2-ply wood / PSA / none]
Thickness: [e.g. 0.6 mm raw, or standard for the backing type]
Sheet or leaf size: [e.g. 4 x 8 ft sheets, or minimum leaf width in inches]
Grade: [e.g. A grade to ANSI/HPVA HP-1, or "your standard grade, please describe"]
Match: [book matched / slip matched / balance matched / random, no match required]
Quantity: [square footage, sheet count, or door/panel count and sizes]
Waste allowance: [e.g. 15 percent, or "please advise typical for this job"]
Paperwork needed: [FSC / PEFC / CITES permit / Lacey Act declaration / EU timber documentation / none]
Ship-to location: [city, country]
Needed on site by: [date]
Notes: [end use, project name, reference photo, anything else relevant]

Send this once, to a short list of suppliers who work in the form you need, and most will be able to quote from the first message. That is the point of a complete RFQ: fewer rounds of questions, and quotes that are actually comparing the same product.

Frequently asked questions

Keep reading

• Contact Cement, PVA or UF: Choosing the Right Glue for Wood Veneer Lay-Up
• Balanced Panel Construction: Why Veneered Panels Need Backers and Cross-Banding