shazam@mhuxn.UUCP (Tom Marsden) (06/29/85)
I am in the process of refinishing a desk and discovered, much to my horror, that a layer of veneer has been placed over the original wood: ash. The original ash was left untouched everywhere else on the desk, except for the desktop. What I want is to remove the veneer from both the top and bottom of the desktop. Unfortunately, I have never attempted this before. The few woodworking books I possess fail to explain the procedure, so I would appreciate any tips from readers of this newgroup who have stripped off veneer successfully. Thanks in advance. Tom Marsden AT&T Bell Laboratories Room 6A-309 600 Mountain Ave. Murray Hill, NJ 07974 (201) 582-6202
bill@crystal.UUCP (07/10/85)
> I am in the process of refinishing a desk and discovered, much > to my horror, that a layer of veneer has been placed over the > original wood: ash. The original ash was left untouched everywhere > else on the desk, except for the desktop. What I want is to remove > the veneer from both the top and bottom of the desktop. ... If the desk top is removable fairly easily, and has no metal imbedded in it, my preferred solution would be to take the top to a cabinet shop with a wide (30 or 36", probably, depending on the desktop dimensions) planer and have them surface it. BEFORE you do it, you should consider why the top was veneered: possibly (1) to cover up inferior wood (perhaps only the edges are ash, the middle could be poplar, or some other secondary wood; (2) to show a fine piece of ash (assuming the veneer is ash); (3) to cover deep damage, e.g., ink stains [bleachable] or other chemical stains. I would carefully check, on the bottom, before skimming. You didn't say how old the desk is. If it's old enough, a hide glue may have been used for the veneering, in which case moist heat and a sharp chisel should allow you to start separating the glue line. again, try this on the bottom surface first... for further hints on separating hide glue-lines, see a violin repair book. By the way, if the veneer IS nice, why not leave it? If damaged, another layer could be glued down. Good luck. bill -- William Cox Computer Sciences Department University of Wisconsin, Madison WI bill@uwisc ...{ihnp4,seismo,allegra}!uwvax!bill