Veneer sand through. Any creative ideas?

[Alan Tolchinsky]

I sanded through a 2"x2" area in a veneered table top I'm making. Any way to correct or just start over? Here's a pic of the damage. I'd like to save it if I could as I have a fair amount of time in it. Won't be the first time I've wasted time I guess. :) Thanks. Alan in Md.

[Earl Kelly]

Alan, that's a pretty big sand through. I think too big to tough-up. I would cut out an area with the router and glue a new piece in. You might want to make a design statement cause it'll be very hard to match up the veneer perfectly. If you have more of that veneer,you can lay a couple of sheets up and see what the match would look like. I don't know if you saw the Leaf table I posted , but I had to cut out a bad piece of rosewood because it had a few tiny bubbles, and replace it. That, I was able to match up really well.

[Earl Kelly]

...too big to touch-up...

[Lee Schierer]

Maybe condsider doing an inlay of some sort. I don't know if it would fit in with your design or not.

[Steve King]

Alan,
I did the same thing on a coffie table I was making. Like you, I had so much time in it, I made a new top for my coffie table and made an end table from the old top. I was able to make a top and lower shelf from the old top.
Steve
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[Alan Tolchinsky]

Thanks all, That's a beautiful table Steve. I'd like to know how to do an inlay with a router and bushings? Can anybody explain in general terms? I'd like to try an inlay with the same veneer matching the veneer as closely as I can. Thanks Alan in Md.

[Howard Acheson]

No new ideas but let me make this suggestion.

In my classes, I caution about sand through on today's very thin hardwood veneers. Hardwood veneer plywood is already sanded to about 180 grit. Therefore, never use any lesser grit. Do not use a power sander particularly a belt or ROS sander. Using a pad type flat sander is OK if you pay attention but always finish up handsanding with the grain.

But, the best advise is to only hand sand with 180 grit using a felt covered sanding block sanding in the direction of the grain. Unless the surface has been marred, hand sanding will only take a couple of minutes and it is all that is required to properly prepare the surface for finish. If you are not staining with a pigment stain, you can graduate up to 220 paper.

[Alan Tolchinsky]

No new ideas but let me make this suggestion.

In my classes, I caution about sand through on today's very thin hardwood veneers. Hardwood veneer plywood is already sanded to about 180 grit. Therefore, never use any lesser grit. Do not use a power sander particularly a belt or ROS sander. Using a pad type flat sander is OK if you pay attention but always finish up handsanding with the grain.

But, the best advise is to only hand sand with 180 grit using a felt covered sanding block sanding in the direction of the grain. Unless the surface has been marred, hand sanding will only take a couple of minutes and it is all that is required to properly prepare the surface for finish. If you are not staining with a pigment stain, you can graduate up to 220 paper.

Thanks Howard, What you say makes sense but when you have veneer tape on a veneer it's not easy to remove sometimes. I also got some glue bleed through too and was removing this. I remove the veneer tape with a sponge and water but it leaves a residue that must be sanded off. Needless to say I'll be much more careful in the future.

I'm learning from this though. I'm going to do an inlay just to try the technique using the same veneer to see if I can patch it. Thanks again.

Alan in Md.

[aurelio alarcon]

No new ideas but let me make this suggestion.

In my classes, I caution about sand through on today's very thin hardwood veneers. Hardwood veneer plywood is already sanded to about 180 grit. Therefore, never use any lesser grit. Do not use a power sander particularly a belt or ROS sander. Using a pad type flat sander is OK if you pay attention but always finish up handsanding with the grain.

But, the best advise is to only hand sand with 180 grit using a felt covered sanding block sanding in the direction of the grain. Unless the surface has been marred, hand sanding will only take a couple of minutes and it is all that is required to properly prepare the surface for finish. If you are not staining with a pigment stain, you can graduate up to 220 paper.At the risk of sounding dumb, when you state "never use a lesser grit", do you mean "never use a more aggresive grit than 180? For example: never use 150 or 100 grit paper because this could result in sand through. I only ask because I've always thought a lesser grit means something not as aggresive or coarse.

[Jim Becker]

Shouldn't veneer tape "remains" be removed with a scraper? I seem to remember seing an article awhile back that used that method.

[Alan Tolchinsky]

Shouldn't veneer tape "remains" be removed with a scraper? I seem to remember seing an article awhile back that used that method.

I think Howard did mean not to sand with any paper coarser than 180. And yes you can remove veneer tape, Jim, with a scraper after wetting the tape with water. I wet it with a sponge, not heavily, then wait a minute. Then I wet again, wait a minute and scrape with a putty knife etc. It works great and the tape comes right off leaving just a little residue which can be sanded off after drying. Just be careful about the sanding. :) Alan in Md.

[Earl Kelly]

Alan, I know this doesn't help on this problem. But, I'll go thru my sanding sequence for you. First, be careful when using some veneers, the thickness will taper off on one end, getting paper thin. These sheets I try to avoid or exclude that area. And yes I've glued up a panel only to discover a thin area soon as I sand it.

For sanding, I start with 100 grit BELT SANDER across the grain then finish up going with the grain. Then I go to 120 on my Dynabrade 6" random orbital to take out the belt marks. From 120 I go to 180 sanding a little longer than the 120. Sometimes I go further to 220. But never higher. Finish up a little by hand with the grain.

The dynabrade is the secret, unlike a PC or makita vibrator the pad is firm and flat. It will not sand thru edges and corners unless you tip the sander. A soft pad sander will. I also found, until the dynabrade, I always had trouble getting the belt marks out.

Two more tips, be careful with some of the plywoods, they will have dips and ridges. Run your hand over and feel if it's truly flat.

The other, when edging a veneered panel with solids always have the solid edges slightly proud of the veneered panel. It's much easier to take more off the solids than the veneer.

I know this doesn't help with this project, but maybe it will help in the future.

[Daniel Rabinovitz]

Alan
Inlay cutting with a router and bushing.
1. Plunge router
2. Bushing on
3. With a template - any shape or size
4.Plunge 1/8 bit down into damaged wood and rout, at any depth, around outside edge and then remove all inside wood.
5. Work on new piece - patch
6. Bushing off
7. BE CAREFUL - plunge, at same depth or little deeper, on EDGE of patch and rout around OUTER edge only; don't lift router bit but STOP MOTOR, then lift router
8. Cut patch with table saw
What did I leave out, fellows?
Daniel :confused: