cedar chest repair

[Jaromir Svoboda]

I like to refinish Lane cedar chest.It is made from solid cedar with veneer on top.Venner is in bad condition in few places.
How should I repair it?I think best will be remove old veneer and glue new veneer in.
Any advice?

[John Donofrio]

Hi Jaromir. When I refinished an old Lane cedar chest a few years ago I started my research at joewoodworker.com. There is a wealth of information on veneering there and Joe is also very helpful in replying to emails/questions. I know he was for me during my restoration project. Good luck!

BTW, if you look on the bottom of the chest, you may find a model and serial number. Contact Lane and they may be able to look up the manufacture date. Also, if it applies to your chest, they may send you a new lock. Yours looks to be the same as mine. The problem is that it's like the old refrigerators. If a child were to get inside and pull the lid shut, there is no way for them to open it from the inside. This may not be an issue for you but I thought it was worth mentioning.

[Jim Matthews]

I've done a similar repair to "waterfall" furniture in the past, with mixed results.

The small area for the veneer, in proximity to the edges makes this kind of failure nearly inevitable.
My suggestion would be to make a small run of shop veneer, around 1/32" thick to reinforce the front edges.

The top of the lid will be best repaired with a continuous run of new veneer, backed with a fabric to handle the quarter round at the front.

Hide glue would be my adhesive choice.