Douglas Fir Veneer

Douglas fir — Pseudotsuga menziesii — is a softwood, and vertical-grain fir is what you get when it is cut on the quarter: tight, dead-straight parallel lines in warm amber, with none of the wild cathedral arching of the flat-sawn board. It is the fir of Pacific Northwest interiors and of mid-century joinery, and nothing else looks quite like it.

Specify VG explicitly. "Douglas fir" without the vertical-grain qualifier can arrive flat-cut, and the two are not the same product — one is a quiet linear texture, the other is a series of dramatic peaks. Getting the wrong one is the most common thing that goes wrong with a fir specification.

Being a softwood, it has an extreme contrast between the soft early wood and the hard late wood, so it marks more easily than a hardwood veneer and the sanding wants a light hand. It is also resinous. None of that is a reason not to use it; it is a reason to tell your finisher what they are getting. Available raw, two-ply, paper-backed, and pressed to panel.