Teak veneer bubbles

[Ed Kelliher]

Some of the interior of my boat is teak plywood on a verticqal surface with port holes. One port leaked rain water enough to produce a silver dollar size 3/8" high, hard bubble in the teak veneer. Removing the port will give access to the edege of the teak plywood above the bubble. How do I get this brittle bubble to shrink and flatten back down when I glue it without splitting?

Should I use a veneer softener?
Do I need to slit it open in some way?


Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Greg Portland]

Some of the interior of my boat is teak plywood on a verticqal surface with port holes. One port leaked rain water enough to produce a silver dollar size 3/8" high, hard bubble in the teak veneer. Removing the port will give access to the edege of the teak plywood above the bubble. How do I get this brittle bubble to shrink and flatten back down when I glue it without splitting?

Should I use a veneer softener?
Do I need to slit it open in some way?


Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
Are you saying that the water caused the plywood to swell and now that it's dry you have a bubble? The problem with slitting and gluing is that you'll need to sand it flush. Veneer tends to be extremely thin; I'd be worried about sanding through.

I'd suggest taking a picture or two and posting on the boats area of this forum... some of the experts only hang out in that area.

[Richard Coers]

Does the bubble just feel like the teak veneer? If it is just the face veneer, go to a farm supply store and buy an animal syringe and needle. Then use a single edge razor blade and slit the veneer. Inject some thin glue into the bubble, then clamp. If you can't get a clamp on it, add blocking and a brace over to the other side of the boat.

[Ed Kelliher]

The teak veneer on the plywood has a 3/8" high, 2" in diameter, hard brittle bubble. I am concerned that clamping it in its persent brittle condition will cause the veneer to break.
Will using veneer softner before I glue and clamp it prevent it from breaking and help it to flatten back down?

[Richard Coers]

The commercial veneer softener is probably a mixture of equal parts water, alcohol, glycerine, and maybe a little glue thrown in for sizing purposes. Glycerine can be purchased at a good drug store, if there is such a thing these days. (Don't get me started on how much junk you have to walk past at the Walgreens to get to medical stuff.) If you want to try that first, before clamping, I think you will still have to slit the veneer, and get that mix in from behind. (I'd skip adding any glue to that mix for your job) The finish on the front of the paneling will prevent the mix from soaking in very well, hence the reason to go in from behind. I would be worried that more than veneer delamination has gone on with a bubble that size, but wouldn't be afraid to slice it with the grain and see what happens.

[Kevin Bourque]

It sounds like you have more that one ply that has delaminated. You can get a much better idea of what you'll have to do when you expose the edge of the bubble.

[Ed Kelliher]

When I pushed a common pin through a slit that was in the veneer bubble, it seemed to be just veneer thick. The plywood behind it seemed pretty flat and solid.