How To Repair Veneer Table Top
How To Give Veneer Tops New Life
Veneer impairment is a flaw you'll find commonly in old furniture, but one you tin set up with surprisingly niggling trouble.
Veneer impairment is a flaw you lot'll detect commonly in quondam furniture, but one you can fix with surprisingly piddling trouble. "Veneer repair is an like shooting fish in a barrel job for woodworkers of almost any skill level," co-ordinate to San Francisco piece of furniture repair and refinishing wizard Jim Kull. "It just takes a few tools and some intendance."
With Jim'due south encouraging words in mind and his communication close at mitt, we decided to give it a try. Information technology didn't accept long to plough up the perfect subject—a little terminate table in a secondhand store. The years had certainly taken their toll on the edges of the veneered superlative. Not only was the veneer itself loose, and fifty-fifty missing in spots, but the crossbanding—the sparse layer beneath it—had delaminated from the tabletop, too, as shown in the photo above in a higher place.
Before nosotros could repair the veneer, we had to become rid of the wrinkles in the crossbanding. We started that chore by cleaning out the old gum, clay, and loose woods fibers between the crossbanding and the tabletop, using sandpaper, finishing scrapers, and a knife.
Spread mucilage between thelayers with thin cardboardor plastic. We scraped outthe old glue and stuff withthe tools on top of the table.
And then, using an old concern carte, we spread liquid hide glue between the layers, equally shown to a higher place. With waxed newspaper so a piece of scrapwood laid over the repair area, we next clamped the veneer and crossbanding to the top, as shown at below. We also added shims—pieces of some more of those old business concern cards—between the caul and the waxed paper to ensure contact between the crossbanding and the tabletop in spots where the veneer was missing.
Clench the border layers. Inspots where the veneer isgone; add shims to pressthe layer below the veneersolidly against the tabletop.
For a about invisible repair along the edge, we needed to cutting the damaged veneer back to a direct edge to friction match up with a new slice. Nosotros asked Jim for a foolproof way to make this cutting accurately. "Utilize a router," he counseled.
With a router, a 3⁄4 " straight flake, and a quick-to-brand guide, shown in the photo beneath, information technology's easy to make the cut. This setup also mills the surface flat for a smooth repair.
A elementary guide and a routerfitted with a straight flake makeit easy to cut the old veneerback to a make clean, direct edge.
To make a guide similar Jim uses, we cut a piece of 3⁄4 " stock longer than the edge to be routed and almost two" wider than the distance from the center of the router base of operations to its edge. We screwed a piece of straight 1-1⁄2 " wide stock atop one long border.
We then chucked in the router bit. "Whatsoever size directly bit will work," Jim advised, "but wider works faster." With the bit extended below the bottom of the guide and the router base riding along the screwed-on cleat, we routed off the edge of the guide base. This resulted in a directly edge that shows exactly where the chip will cut.
Then, we clamped the guide to the tabletop, just less than the flake's width from the edge, equally shown in the photo, above. Commonly, Jim suggests placing the guide parallel to the damaged border. Just because our tabletop featured a diagonal grain pattern, nosotros decided to align the guide with the grain to simplify fitting the new piece. (See the bottom of the page for another approach.)
With the bit set to but cut through the veneer and osculation the crossbanding, shown in the photo beneath, we made a laissez passer along the guide. (If we had needed to remove a wider expanse, nosotros would have moved the guide back for another cut, making enough passes to remove all of the damaged area.)
The router bit should merely cutthrough the veneer to thecrossbanding or other basematerial.
All that remained was to replace the missing veneer. Our replacement veneer was the same thickness as the original, and then we simply matched upwards the grain as much as possible. New and one-time veneer thicknesses won't ever friction match, though. In most cases, the new veneer will be thinner. To recoup, gum a layer of kraft paper under the new veneer.
Considering the table's edge is shaped, we resorted to more handwork to fit the new piece. Nosotros marked the gauge contour of the border on the new veneer, as shown in the photo below, and trimmed it.
Fit the replacement veneerto the routed area. Trim it torough width before gluing itin place.
Then, later on gluing and clamping it in, nosotros carefully sanded the edge of the new veneer to match the peak. In a hereafter installment, we'll have on the chore of matching the color of the new veneer to that of the sometime.
Instead of matching veneer along direct, damaged edges, Jim sometimes likes to add a border of ready-made banding. Though this may not exist appropriate for fine antiques, it can dress up old, everyday furniture.
"Make identical cuts along all edges so the area to be inlaid is exactly the same size all around," Jim advises. "Cut the inlay area slightly less broad than the banding," he adds. Then, mucilage the banding in, clamp or weight it downward, and allow the glue to dry. "Trim off the edges with either a flush trimming scrap in your router, or sand it flush with the edges," he says. "Then, sand the surface flat, and you are ready to finish."
Source: https://www.woodmagazine.com/materials-guide/finishes/how-to-give-veneer-tops-new-life
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