Do-it-yourself veneered furniture repair

In detail: do-it-yourself veneered furniture repair from a real master for the site my.housecope.com.

Furniture damage, although annoying, is often easy to fix. Just keep in mind that the veneer on old furniture is different from the veneer produced today.

  • Veneer or wood that matches the texture and type of the source material
  • Varnish
  • steel wool
  • Sandpaper
  • Shellac stick for putty
  • Beeswax
  • Glue bone or mezdrovy

Tools

  • Scalpel or knife blade
  • Veneer saw
  • cycle
  • Chisel
  • steel ruler
  • soldering iron
  • Iron
  • Plane
  • Screwdriver
  • Paint brush

If there is a need to renew the veneered surface, then first of all it is necessary to establish what material the substrate is made of. In modern furniture, this is usually plywood or chipboard. Their machine-brushed surface is specifically designed for veneer applications.

However, a product made of solid wood can also be lined with veneer. Usually this is “ordinary”, cheap wood, but veneer, on the contrary, is made of precious wood and serves as a kind of camouflage, since it gives the product a solid, noble look.

The first factory-made serial veneers appeared about 50 years ago. Older furniture is a combination of expensive and cheap woods.

Regardless of the type of underlayment, our restoration work applies exclusively to the upper layer of fine wood, which is only a few millimeters thick.

  • Determine the nature of veneer damage
  • Prepare material
  • To clean the place of damage, smooth out cracks in the tree
  • Buy the right veneer or wood from a special shop
  • If the repair is local in nature, then the surface of the furniture should be covered so as not to damage other areas. Take care of good lighting.
  • Make patches
  • Repair scratches with putty
  • Drive into the cracks of the rail
Video (click to play).

The meltable glue under the swollen veneer is heated with an iron, after which the veneer is pressed with a clamp.

Carefully clean the area under the swollen veneer from old glue and inject fresh glue with a syringe. Moisten the veneer and, if necessary, cut crosswise.

Usually, veneer bulges due to improper placement of its sheets. then, after gluing, small undulating swellings form - it means that the material was too dry. It is necessary to detect and eliminate all swellings in time, otherwise the appearance of cracks and crevices cannot be avoided.

Blisters on old furniture may be corrected with a hot iron (medium setting). A damp cloth placed on top will also help, which will make the veneer more elastic. Glue can be injected under the bubble with a syringe, after which this place must be gently rubbed with your thumb and then secured with a clamp.

To eliminate such a defect in modern furniture, heating with an iron and a little pressure will be enough.

Sometimes the surface to be processed - for example, varnishing - has defects. Such a surface should be restored before processing begins. Find a small piece of flawless veneer that matches the texture of the veneer on the surface being repaired.

Cut out a window on the defective area. Attach a piece of veneer to this place. Make sure that the texture of the main background and the patch match exactly. Once you have found the right position, use a scalpel to cut the "patch" exactly along the contour of the removed piece of veneer.

Damaged areas in the facing layer should be removed and “patches” should be made of veneer that is suitable in texture and shape.

The knife or scalpel should be held at a slight angle in order to get a “patch” that fits the shape. Cut across the texture, sometimes in a zigzag pattern, to avoid splitting the wood. Now the "patch" fits exactly into place. It must be fixed with an adhesive paper strip. With the wedge-shaped head of a carpenter's hammer, carefully smooth the joints. The transition from the main veneer to the "patch" should be almost imperceptible. Now the restored surface can be processed further.

The strength of the glued veneer depends on the condition of the substrate. There are no complications when the veneer is glued to plywood. The surface of the latter is machine-leveled and the veneer should only be cleaned in an appropriate manner before installation. It is a completely different matter when a facing layer of noble wood species is applied to the planed surface of the sawlog.

The "patch" lies under the veneer, which is being restored.

The cut of both parts is done in one working step.

A solid wood base often has defects such as protruding knots, which should be removed with a core drill. After that, the blind hole is closed with a suitable circle of wood, if necessary, the protruding parts are cleaned with a file or sandpaper. Large defective areas are hollowed out in the shape of a rhombus. A new part is inserted into this place.

The resin that has come to the surface is removed with a special solvent.

There are three ways to finish the surface of the veneer: waxing, varnishing, or - which is the easiest for the home craftsman - clear varnish. However, the latter method is not always applicable. For example, antique furniture requires a different approach. To determine which one, you need to know how the surface of the product was treated or its approximate age. The fact is that the difference between clear varnish and varnish treatment is difficult to establish. Only a specialist can confidently distinguish the soft natural gloss of a shellac lacquer polish from the hard lacquer gloss of a cellulose polish applied with a brush. So, for the information of non-professionals: good transparent varnishes appeared about 50 years ago.

Polish is applied with a swab in soft curved lines in the form of eights. This ensures deep penetration of the varnish into the pores of the wood.

To cover with a polish with a swab, the facing layer must first be primed and sanded. Polishing should be carried out in continuous smooth sliding movements. Each pass over the surface must be working, that is, leave the thinnest layer of polish. After drying, the surface must be well sanded with a horsehair brush to give it a noble “velvet” sheen.

Often it is necessary to repair damage to the surface of polished furniture. Minor scratches can be repaired with furniture polish. Small burned holes are carefully scraped and filled with putty or beeswax. The latter can, unlike putty, be applied to an already processed tree; it is combined with both polish and varnish.

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After the wax is slightly heated, small pieces are separated from it and pressed with a knife into the damaged area. Then this place is rubbed with a soft cloth dipped in turpentine.

Flaws on raw, untreated wood can be repaired with putty only after applying varnish. On sale there are putties of all tones.

Deep damage, affecting not only the polish layer, but also the veneer, is repaired with shellac putty of a suitable tone.

The filling material is heated until it falls off in thick drops. Then the wax is collected with a knife and added to the filling material.

Shellac hardens relatively quickly. The protruding material is removed by cycles until it has hardened.

A deep scratch that cuts through a layer of polish or varnish inevitably leaves marks on the wood itself. Sometimes restoration with a kolinsky brush and suitable art paint helps. Oil paints are also used, for example, when tinting wax, if it is necessary to fill a large hole. Recesses are filled only after thorough cleaning of the surface.

White spots on polished or clear lacquered surfaces are the result of exposure to heat - most often from the fact that hot objects are placed on the polish, such as dishes with hot food. Such defects are eliminated with shellac varnish, a mixture of turpentine and linseed or camphor oil.

Recesses in a polished or varnished surface are filled with shellac varnish of the appropriate tone. A few drops of varnish are heated and injected into the hole. After the varnish has hardened, the surface is carefully polished in circles with the thinnest steel “washcloth”.

After restoration work, the surface of the product must be completely smooth. Carefully level the polishing in the direction of the texture with a thin steel “washcloth”. After you remove the residue again, apply a shellac base. After another sanding with sandpaper (No. 240), the final surface treatment follows. Apply several thin layers of varnish with a flat brush. Give the renewed surface a shine with a linen cloth soaked in a special product.

After the shellac putty has hardened in the restored places, it must be carefully leveled with a thin steel “washcloth”

On the cleaned surface, a nourishing polish is carefully applied with a lump of linen cloth.

On the surface of old tables made of glued solid boards, cracks appear over time - often at the end, and sometimes in the middle of the tabletop. In both cases, this can be corrected by inserting wedge-shaped plates into the slots (corresponding to the thickness of the tabletop). Wedges are cut from a piece of wood suitable for furniture. The workpiece is processed with a planer, and then with a file, until it is slightly thicker than the gap itself. At the end, the wedge is driven into the slot by tapping lightly with a hammer.

After driving in, the wedge should protrude slightly from the table surface so that it can be leveled.

Since the crack rarely runs in a straight line, after removing dirt and possible chips, it must be straightened. The smoother the surface, the stronger the adhesive bond. The wedge should fit into the gap very tightly. If the crack is in the middle, then a dovetail-shaped wooden plate is glued on the reverse side to prevent further cracking.

Once the glue has set, the wedge is carefully hewn with a planer. Work carefully, trying not to touch the main surface. The final alignment can be done with sharp cycles.

1. After cleaning and leveling the gap, measurements are taken, according to which a plate of the desired shape is cut.

2. Process the wedge-shaped plate (slightly larger than the slot) with a planer.

3. Glue the finished wedge into the slot. The tabletop with gaskets on top and sides is clamped in a vise.

4. To prevent new cracks from appearing, a dovetail-shaped wooden plate is glued into the countertop on the reverse side.

Has old furniture lost its former luster? I'm tired, but it's a pity to throw it away? All this is fixable: you can improve the appearance so that no one will think that the furniture is many years old. Do-it-yourself furniture restoration is hard work. But you don't have to do anything super complicated. Some methods are so simple that everyone can do it (we are not talking about antiques, of course).

Video (click to play).

No matter how carefully the furniture is handled, scuffs, scratches, stains still occur. They are easy to eliminate. The main thing is to know how and why.

      If the wood surface has just lost its luster, look for a wood care product that contains orange oil. Take a clean sponge, moisten it slightly and heat it in the microwave for 20-30 seconds. Spraying the product from a spray bottle, then wipe it with a hot sponge (hands should be in rubber gloves coated inside).

    A hot sponge and an orange oil cleanser will bring back the gloss of wooden furniture

    Such transformations are possible using a marker, alcohol and wax.

    Restoring a layer of varnish is a difficult task. Any restoration of furniture begins with cleaning and degreasing and repairing the varnish coating too. We use dish detergent diluted in water: safe and reliable. After drying, we proceed to update the polishing.

  • On dark furniture, a scratch can be painted over with iodine, achieving the desired color in a number of layers or diluting it with water. If you have furniture markers, you can use them.
  • Deep scratches that have turned white cannot be painted over. There are other methods:
    • Make a mastic with 4 parts melted wax and 3 parts turpentine. This paste is applied to the polish and rubbed with a soft cloth.
    • If you have shoe polish in a suitable color, you can cover it with it, and then polish everything with a cloth.

    Scratches are painted over, then the coating is restored

    You can simply refresh the faded polish on the furniture with mixtures prepared by yourself:

    1. Two parts of linseed oil and turpentine and a part of vinegar. Everything is mixed, applied with a swab, wait until it is absorbed and polished.
    2. Mix oil and beer in equal parts and wipe the furniture with this composition. Rub after soaking.
    3. A more shiny surface will be if the beer is boiled with a piece of wax, cooled and applied slightly warm to the furniture. When the composition is absorbed, the surface is rubbed to a shine.

    More recipes in the video.

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