Working with veneers

[Perthbound]

Hi, not posted for a while, but am now up and running and raring to go. This is probably a stupid question, but is working with a veneered piece of timber exactly the same as working with "proper" timber. We have just moved into our house after having to wait 15 months for it to be built, and I intend to make a lot of different projects for different rooms, furniture, cabinets etc etc. I was going to build an audio/visual cabinet, then I saw one for sale, with the exact dimensions I needed, and as it had been reduced from $700 to $200 because it was damaged, I bought it. My question is, its only some of the veneered surfaces that are damaged, so can I use wood filler and restain it as I would with regular wood, or do I need to re-veneer it?

Great if anyone can help. Cheers

[pianoman]

You could fill and stain, however if the wood has a strong grain pattern to do a nice job you will need to paint the grain in. This is not easy . Could you post some pictures?
Depending on where the damage is you could get away with filling and just plain colour with no grain painting.

[Lignum]

Depending where and how bad it is, you could cut the dammaged area with a scapel and scrape the base flat with a small chisel and lay in a small section of veneer to match. Or as Pioanoman said fill and paint the grain in. Thats not as hard as it sounds. If you use some artists water color pencils lightly dabbed in some water, carfully and lightly using the appropriate colors draw in the the grain. When you have it right, give it a blast with some laquer from an aerosloe can. Just a few quick squirts are enough to seal it

[pianoman]

Just some further tips to add to Lignum's advice. Check carefully to see what the colour of the wood between the grain lines match that colour first then put the grain in afterwards. When you draw in the grain lines you can smudge them a little bit with some of those Q tips that are designed for putting on make up on . They have a sharp end and a paddle shaped end. The reason for this is that if you look closely grain lines are not solid lines, but a collection of little dots or lines running in a linear fashion along the line of the wood. By smudging the line you have drawn it will take the hard edge off it and not stand out so much. As far as spraying Wattyl make a good product in a pressure pack Super Satin Glaze 50 clear laquer I got mine from Stimsons in Balmain but I imagine any specialist Wattyl stockist will carry it.

When you spray the job consider spraying the whole panel on the job rather than just the area of damage. It will blend in much better .

[Perthbound]

Thanks for the answers, the damage only covers a small area, (40mm or so) I just wanted to do it right so the repair wasnt noticeable, sounds like I can fill it in and restain it no problems, another problem with it, that I forgot to mention is there are several bubbles (about the size of a 5 cent piece) under the surface, any ideas how to irradicate these please ?????

[pianoman]

If they are bubbles in the veneer (between the wood underneath and the veneer) you could try ironing it flat. Use a cloth between the iron and the veneer this could re-activate the glue. Clamp it with a piece of smooth wood overnight to hold it down. Set the iron on silk setting. Just double check that it is wood veneer and not plastic before you iron and that the cloth is 100% cotton. Bedsheet like material is good. If this fails you can inject a 50/50 solution of PVA glue and water into the bubbles and clamp them down as with the ironing method. Leave overnight.

[Perthbound]

Cheers, thanks for that, I will give it a try.

[redwood]

Before you iron the bubble down slice it with the grain with a scalpel to release and air pocket. it will go down easier. you can slide some pva under with the scalpel at the same time if you want. you wont need to clamp it cause it will dry straigth away from the heat