Repair damaged veneer edges

If there is a common problem when buying secondhand furniture, it's having to repair veneer. Quite a few older pieces of furniture were manufactured using cheaper woods, and veneer was used to disguise these woods. But over time, bangs and bumps, scratches and moisture will cause problems with veneer and you will either have to replace of repair.

 

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When finding a beautiful piece of vintage furniture at a bargain price, you can sometimes be put off buying the piece. But most damage can be repaired and a piece that still is still solid shouldn't be ignored simply because there are a few pieces of veneer missing. Michelle at sweetsuite10 found this vintage dresser on craig list. "It had great bones, but the missing veneer and other dings and scratches left the dresser looking very old and tired." says Michelle.

The first step is restoring the chest of drawers was to remove the entire front strip of veneer that was damaged. Not too difficult, she laid a damp cloth over the veneer, and passed a hot iron over the cloth to heat up and loosen the glue. A small putty knife was then used to lift off the veneer.

Using a veneer edging strip, repairing the missing veneer was incredibly simple. Some veneer strips already have glue on, but more often than not you will need to attach veneer edging strip with contact adhesive. If veneer has a glue backing, all you need to do is lay a clean rag over the veneer, and then heat the veneer using your iron. I had to do this step twice as on my first try the veneer shifted while it was ironing it.

After gluing on the veneer you can use a Stanley knife or edge trimmer to cut off any excess and then lightly sand the edges smooth. Once you have attended to any repairs and sanding on the remaining piece, stain, seal, varnish or wax on your choice of finishing.