# Refinishing veneer



## Toptip (Apr 2, 2010)

I have veneered many items, stained and sealed them and all worked out fine.

But when I RE-finish veneer, I NEVER get what I want. I use a commercial stripper with steel wool, until I think the coating is all gone. Then I use one of those "orange" products to get rid of the stripper. Finally wipe the whole thing clean with methylated spirits and let it dry.

Then...I apply a stain and all hell breaks loose! The stain goes on very unevenly...sometimes along geometric lines, sometimes along veneer seams and sometimes just any which way! Then I spend the next few days trying to even out the stain by wiping on a bit here and a bit there but it never really works. Anilyn stains work better but they often get an iridescent sheen which sometimes (but not always) disappears if wiped with water again. But it is all very frustrating and I end up promising I will NEVER refinish but just reveneer.. Problem is some old veneers are irreplaceably beautiful and bookmatched.

What am I doing wrong? Obviously there are people who can do this properly.

Any help would be appreciated.


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## Tony B (Jul 30, 2008)

Toptip said:


> ..... I use a commercial stripper with steel wool, until I think the coating is all gone. Then I use one of those "orange" products to get rid of the stripper. Finally wipe the whole thing clean with methylated spirits and let it dry.


What commercial stripper are you using and what 'orange' product are you using? 
Most commercial strippers are neutralized with water or lacquer thinner. And why the steel wool? Ciommercial strippers just need to be scraped off with a scraper and 'washed' with water or lacquer thinner. 
You might not be using enough stripper and leaving residue behind. You can't be cheap with a stripper.


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

It's entirely possible that all the previous finish wasn't removed. Even traces will affect the "refinish".


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## JW_in_Indy (Mar 20, 2009)

I've never tried to refinish veneer, but I think it would be problematic for a couple of reasons. First, as thin as veneer generally is, I would imagine that in most cases, it would have fully absorbed any stain and subsiquent finish. Second, to use a chemical stripper strong enough to remove all traces of the previous finish, I would guess might interfere with the adheasive gluing the veneer to the substrate. Using a strippier soft enough to not mess with the adheasive, and you don't get full finish removal (which sounds like what is happening).

Kind of a catch 22 it sounds like to me....

Good luck.


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## Tony B (Jul 30, 2008)

*JW*

Amongst all the things I do, I also do commercial refinishing. All I can say is that all of your assumptions are wrong. When I strip a piece of furniture, all of the finish and stain come completely off. The only thing that 'might' remain is any dyes. When properly stripped, the wood will look like a new board after a very light sanding. Doesnt matter whether veneer or hardwood. The only thing that I have to be careful of is the pressure washer not lifting an edge because I carelessly blasted into the edge of the plywood. 
The hard part to believe is that I use water in the high pressure washer. Water neutralizes the chemical and blasts it off as well as gets into every nook and cranny.


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## JW_in_Indy (Mar 20, 2009)

Tony B said:


> Amongst all the things I do, I also do commercial refinishing. All I can say is that all of your assumptions are wrong. When I strip a piece of furniture, all of the finish and stain come completely off. The only thing that 'might' remain is any dyes. When properly stripped, the wood will look like a new board after a very light sanding. Doesnt matter whether veneer or hardwood. The only thing that I have to be careful of is the pressure washer not lifting an edge because I carelessly blasted into the edge of the plywood.
> The hard part to believe is that I use water in the high pressure washer. Water neutralizes the chemical and blasts it off as well as gets into every nook and cranny.


 
I stand corrected Tony.... sorry about that.


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## Tony B (Jul 30, 2008)

*JW*

The really 'good stuff' is very nasty. Usually it cannot be purchased in a normal store or woodworking supply place. You have to get it from refinishing suppliers. It's great stuff and goes a long way.


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## Rick Mosher (Feb 26, 2009)

It also depends on whether the veneer has been properly applied or not. Chemical strippers can cause problems if you use contact cement to apply your veneer. Any veneer that has been applied with a quality glue and pressed shouldn't cause any problems. One other issue with water wash would be on any antiques that have hide glue. Steam will really release it and I imagine if it has gotten old and brittle the water would get to it as well.


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## Tony B (Jul 30, 2008)

I have never had problems with veneer lifting off in big pieces. I use plain old cold tap water on my pressure washer. I have a 2000 psi, 1.6 gpm el-cheapo from Lowes. I paid under $200 for it and it is just about right. The old and brittle stuff that has had glue failure needs to come off anyway so I could re-set it.
Even after the pressure washing, the wood is dry in well under an hour, sometimes in less than 15 minutes. Most of the wash-down process uses more pressure with less water and the wood never really gets 'soaked' in the true sense of the word. I pressure wash a large table top in under 5 seconds. The methylene chloride blisters up the old finish in a few seconds, then I use a plastic scraper to remove most of the crud and then the pressure washer blasts off the remainder. The pressure washer really gets into tiny cracks and spaces in carvings that would take a while manually. I wear tyvec and a face shield in addition to goggles when stripping. The mist in the immediate vacinity of the stripped piece is very 'hot'. Feels like thousands of needles if you dont protect your skin.


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## Toptip (Apr 2, 2010)

First I would like to thank everyone who responded to my query with such insight from years of experience.

It seems to me that the "magic trick" I have been missing all along is probably a professional grade stripper - makes sense, in the interest of safety, many chemicals are rendered too weak to be effective...even laundry bleach or salicylic acid (for removing warts: I recently bought some on a trip to Germany, it works like, well, a professional grade stripper, compared to what you get here at CVS!)

In the end though, it seems, reveneering does make sense - especially with damaged originals - unless the veneer to be covered over is uniquely desirable.

So the next question: if I am veneering over sanded but not totally removed finish, should I use a urethane glue or stick with yellow PVA? A furniture maker friend says one should ALWAYS use urethane for veneer - it is waterproof, fills any gaps in the substrate...

Thoughts?


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