Mister Pants Posted November 28, 2011 Report Share Posted November 28, 2011 Hey guys, Over the Thanksgiving holiday I drove home and brought back with me my father's old desk. It's badly in need of a full restoration, both glue joints drying up (easy enough to fix) and full refinishing job to rectify the refinishing job that my father had done years ago. The desk is white oak, with the top, sides and a couple of pull out flats being lesser woods covered in a very nice quartersawn veneer. The problem is that my dad wasn't an experienced refinisher and he refinished it when he got it from my aunt (who'd painted the thing with huge gobs of peach latex). From what I can see the initial veneer was pretty thick (maybe 1/16") looking at the underside of one of the panels, but when he took it down to the wood he hit it with a belt sander and in many cases the veneer is incredibly thin. He then coated it (globbed on) with several coats of home center poly. Unsanded so it's ridged all over the place with brush bristles embedded. I haven't refinished something like this in the past, usually my refinishing work has been solid wood so I can scrape, sand etc to get where I need to and not worry about veneer. I plan to take it back to the wood, and redo it properly, but I have a few concerns on this. Notably my biggest concern is burn through in the veneer. My thoughts on attacking this (and please tell me if I'm insane) would be to use my #80 cabinet scraper to try clear the poly off or at least most of it, and then carefully sand down to the wood. Would this be the right way to attack it? I'm a little concerned that a chemical stripper could damage the veneer, but would that be the better way to go about it? Assuming there is some veneer burn through, what is the best way to repair/patch it? I plan on just running the flat pullouts (they're about half an inch 12x24x1/2) through my drum sander since the old veneer is pulling away and just redo the veneer on those, but the top and side panels would be more difficult. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AceHoleInOne Posted November 28, 2011 Report Share Posted November 28, 2011 Chemical strip should be fine and the way I would go. Can't speak to the best way to repair the veneer. How about since you have a lot of joint repairs anyway. What about replacing the the veneer panels with new veneer or solid wood panels or re-sawn panels ? -Ace- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
areynoldsre Posted November 28, 2011 Report Share Posted November 28, 2011 Do you want to save the veneer? Sounds like it is beat up enough that it might look better to just re-veneer the whole thing. Might look better than something with a bunch of patches on it. It is possible to do the repair job well but it will be time consuming detailed work - cutting out the damaged area, matching new veneer, cutting to fit, gluing, etc... Normally I advise against chemical strippers over veneer as it will likely damage the glue and you'll end up with more veneer pealing off. If you're trying to save the veneer then I'd use a scraper and hand sanding to get the finish off. Any machine sanding will just damage the veneer more. Remember that most commercial veneers are only 1/40"to 1/20" thick (a few sheets of paper thick). Veneers that are made by re-sawing normally range between 1/16" and 1/8" thick. Scrape and sand sparingly and carefully. To apply new veneer to the top and side I think you might have to use a contact cement to glue it down. You're going to have trouble getting enough even clamping pressure across the surface to hold the veneer flat while gluing it down with anything else (PVA glues). On the top you might try the old trick of using weights (cinder blocks, bags of cement, etc) on top of a piece of plywood to get the pressure needed to glue down the top. The glue up sandwich would be from bottom to top, the sanded top, glue, new veneer, wax paper, 1-2 3/4" plywood or MDF sheets, 200-300 lbs of weights (bricks, cement bags, sand, buckets of water) evenly spaced over the top. Wait an hour or two and it should be glued down nicely. Now the other trick you might consider is to paint grain lines back in where the veneer was burned through. Yup, go to the craft store, get some paint that matches the grain color and some thin brushes and paint the grain lines back it. I might mask it enough that only you will notice. Put a regular coat of varnish on top and you're done. If you could post a picture of the damaged area it might give us a better idea of what you need to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Pants Posted November 28, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2011 Should clarify, it isn't burned through yet, other than the flat pullouts, which I'm going to reveneer. I'm hoping to save the old veneer rather than replace it, my concern is that since he'd done it before with the belt sander, and judging from the panels the veneer now is pretty thin. I'm going to try the cabinet scraper and hand sand and hopefully not have to worry about it. Just wanted to be prepared in case I hit an area that's really thin and burn through it on my end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AceHoleInOne Posted November 28, 2011 Report Share Posted November 28, 2011 Normally I advise against chemical strippers over veneer as it will likely damage the glue and you'll end up with more veneer pealing off. Strippers containing Methylene Chloride, flash off very quickly. What you are doing is applying the stripper over-top the existing finish that has sealed the wood. Typically, it takes several applications of stripper and removing the old finish before you actually get down to the wood. Once down to the wood, you don't overly wet the wood with stripper, just enough with some steel wool to help get that little extra off, then call it done. Should you get any lifting of veneer. Try using a hot iron and a cotton rag to protect the wood. The goal here is to heat the glue and veneer to reactivate the glue. Then clamp it down using a block of wood. If that don't work, try using a razor blade to cut a slit along the grain and inject glue. Make sure you squeeze all the glue out then put wax paper over the spot, clamp down with a block of wood. Using chemical strippers is not for everyone and yes there is technique involved. -Ace- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwacker Posted November 28, 2011 Report Share Posted November 28, 2011 Better safe than sorry. If this is a real old piece it may be done with hide. If that's the case don't use any strippers. If you have to redo a drawer side or something small Id use cold press and just clamp. Oak bleeds so pva isnt a good choice for thin veneers. Contact cement works but it full of issues and should be limited to fully backed veneers. If you don't feel comfortable doing veneer you can always cheat and use Heat Lock. It does work and is very fast and holds up better than contact cement. Hide glue (not the crap in the bottle) is always an option anyone can hammer veneer with hide glue. Don Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Pants Posted November 28, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2011 With regards to age, I think it's from the mid-40's. I picked up some Titebond cold press veneer glue for the pullouts, and some sequenced matched veneer from Woodcraft today for them. Going to test a small bit of it with some scrap poplar tonight to see how that'll work. On the sides if I do have to reveneer, I figure I can do that with clamp and weights if need be the top would be a bigger problem. I'll go carefully with it and hope for the best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.