Patent ID: 7946321

Claim:
A method of holding a veneer sheet stack such that any two adjacent veneer sheets are disposed one on the other with facing surfaces in contact with each other over their entire area, where each veneer sheet has a length along the grain direction thereof and a width transverse to said grain direction and has been dried to a moisture content lower than the fiber saturation point and also heated to a temperature higher than an ambient temperature of an environment where the veneer sheet is held, comprising: bending the higher than ambient temperature stack of veneer sheets in a bent state in such way that at least a part of the each veneer sheet of the stack in the longitudinal section thereof along said grain direction is curved and each veneer sheet of the stack in any transverse section thereof perpendicular to said grain direction is substantially straight; and holding the veneer sheet stack in said bent state for a predetermined period of time, until each veneer sheet of the stack is cooled to substantially ambient temperature.