De-lamination

[sjevan]

I am in posession of my great grandfathers dining suite.

Sometime in the last 30 odd yeas, my dear old nanna fell to the charms of a door to door salesman selling this great new product that meant you would never have to polish your antique table again, laminex, and she actulally had this horrrific piece of woodgrain rubish struck to the table.


I have had it for a while now and could no longer stand this aboration on top of a beautiful antique table, so I peeled if off, very carefully.

It come off really well and to my surpise the surface underneath was nearly spotless (except for the glue, why nana, why ?).

Anyway there is a spot on the table about the size of a playing card where a paper thin section of the timber has de-laminated into a bubble.

I know just about bugger all about wood finishing, the only way I would think to fix it would be to gentlly slice down the grain with a razor blade and inject PVA glue under with a hyperdermic syringe, the place a weight on top, then fill ,finish etc.

Does anyone who actually knows what they are doing have any ideas.

When I can afford it, I will have it professionaly restored, but thats about 5 years away, and I want to continue to use it, as it has been by my family for goodnes knows how many years. It is a matching set and when she died about 5 years ago an antique dealer at the garage sale seen it and offered 2 grand (even with the laminex) he was told it was not for sale.

Regards

Simon

[Clinton1]

yep, thats the way to do it.

Instead of PVA, try hide or fish glue.
http://www.ubeaut.com.au/ubhome.htm - this link is to "Pearl glue", a type of hide glue.

You should also be able to find a pre-mixed liquid hide glue in a bottle.

www.leevalley.com sell fish glue, not too sure where in Aus you can get it.... Lee Valley will have it to you just as quick though.
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...at=1,110,42965

Dunno if I know what I'm doing though

Oh.... put some waxed paper (the baking stuff) between the table and the weight so the weight doesn't stick.

Have fun... sounds like a great table and that the laminex has actually preserved it!!

[NewLou]

Gidday

I'd use hide glue as it will allow you to re repair in the future if required. Dispite its unpopularity with many.................. Hide glue is wonderful stuff that offers a lot of advantages over modern style PVA's etc

The great thing about Hide glue is that it can be re activated with heat a great advantage when fixing bubbles in veneer. DOn't slice down the grain as suggested (This is unnecessary)

Heres a link to how master woodworker David MArks goes about these kind of repairs. Avoid the yellow glue as its not as forgiving as Hide glue which will be a godsend for future repairs:

http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/ww_oth...559170,00.html

(See the section edge gluing and veneers)

Heres the BEst quality Hide Glue I have come across:

http://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/M...egory_Code=TBJ

Hope this helps

REGards Lou

[sjevan]

Thanks for the tips