How do you Repair wood veneer table top?
Question:I have an oak veneer table top that has some bubbling of the veneer on top of table. ANy quick solution on how to get these bubbles out?
Answers:
There is no good fix that is going to look 100%, unless you re-veneer or glue a piece of 1/4 inch oak plwood over it.
If the wood has bubbled, it's because it got wet. It isn't going to lay flat again unless you get it wet again and that may raise it somewhere else. You can try laying a wet sponge on the area. Once the veneer becomes wet enough to be pliable, Put some gorilla glue in a surenge with a needle and stick the needle through the veneer and inject just a little glue. Then put something real heavy on it. A piece of wax paper will keep the heavy object from sticking, but the paper will probably stick and need sanded off. Gorilla glue is made to stick to wet wood surfaces. As a matter of fact the directions say to moisten wood surfaces before use. It is the only kind of glue I would use for the job.
If it doesn't work and you want to apply 1/4" oak plywood, cut the bubbles away and roughen the suface with 80 grit sand paper, then use contact cement to apply the plywood.
This is a pretty iffy task if you aren't familiar with working with vaneer. I would suggest trying to find a book with the technique I am going to try and highlight because the process can be more than I can relay here in this forum. If you have access to a Woodcraft store or something similar or even their website you can get the tools you need to do this.
The first thing you can do is try and use an Xacto knife to puncture the bubble. Then get a clean towel and an iron set on about medium and try running the iron over the bubbles with the towel between the iron and the furniture. This may activate the glue and allow the volume of air in the bubble to escape and fix your problem.
If that doesn't work you can try making a small incision in the bubble that runs with the grain of wood and use some superglue squirted delicately into the incision and then use something heavy to hold the bubble down. One thing to be careful of is not to allow any superglue to ooze out and stick your heavy object to piece of furniture. Also, if you aren't careful with your incision and all then you may have a mar in the surface that is worse than your bubble.
The biggest thing is to just take your time. A library or a Barnes and Noble might have a book that you can look at. Vaneer work is by its nature very delicate work and you have to be patient and go easy.
try a pinhole in 1 bubble and then a hot clothing iron over the hole with some cloth in between. this may drive out the vapor causing the bubble...good chance it won't work, you may be trying to put a shine on sh*t, but it is worth a shot...
you can fill the pinhole with wax matched to wood
I would use a Stanley knife to make a cut with the grain and squirt in some pva glue and stack a pile of books on top, after wiping any glue that oozes out.
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