[Nathan Slingerland]

The veneer on thetop of my 16B shouldered tombstone has some small wrinkles:

   

   

Assuming I'm going to strip and refinish the cabinet what is the best way to flatten the veneer? Sand? Plane? Other?

[TimC]

I have injected glue with a needle, clamped and prayed..
Sometimes my prayers are answered, most times not.

I always wanted to try clamping (with flat planes top and bottom) just after stripping. While the veneer is soft and somewhat pliable. Dunno if "pressing" it would work.

[sam]

kirk or fred would know
but how about the iron method
sam

[jerryhawthorne]

Yield to Kirk but I agree that the iron should do the best.
Jerry

[Fred Taylor]

Try this, before stripping, cut the wrinkle open with razor blade length wise down the center then carefully lift one side open enough to spray some contact adhesive in there and let it get real tacky before you press it down, then repeat for other side of wrinkle. You can mask off each side of cut mark with tape so you don't get glue all over . Remove the tape.Use a hard roller if you have one and roll it . If you use stripper don't get it in the cut marks. Then you can sand it smooth and the cut mark should not be visible . It works ok but not all the time. I've hade to replace the veneer more often than not on cases like that.  What's that hole doing there if that's the top? If that were my radio I would replace just the top section of veneer, stopping just before the curves on each side. Being stained with extra dark walnut you wont see the difference in grain .I wont be that difficult to remove that veneer because its all dried out and is already lifting, you will have much better results buy replacing and should take less time that's if you done it before and have the tools.

[Nathan Slingerland]

Thanks for all of the helpful advice!

RE: the hole - it looks like somebody decided the flat top was the perfect surface to drill something else on. :/

I think you've convinced me about replacing the veneer. I haven't done much veneer work but it would be good to learn especially on a nice flat piece like this.

[OldRestorer]

Replace it? I see no reason for that. The pictures show some minor bubbling. The slit method can be good but if you have not done it, it can be tricky. The injection method is better but you will need a drain slit either way, just not as big.


I had that on my 90 arch and I fixed it with the inject method. Iron method is also good when using titebond 2 but it should be applied to both surfaces, let dry and then iron. You cant do that here though.

The drill hole is repairable but if you want to veneer the top then Get rid of the veneer, fill, sand, Use the titebond method and done. Just remember, just enough glue to tack the surfaces. If you add too much glue you will get even worse ripples.

I had someone with no clue about radios, use my 19LZX speaker cabinet as a chopping block! They even cut out part of the side molding to make it fit where they wanted it! What a maroon!

[tab10672]

The best method I have found when I'm going to refinish anyway, is after stripping, I lay a washcloth soaked with boiling hot water over the area leave it there over night to saturate the veneer, remove cloth, then clamp a flat hard surface (plywood cut to size) leave it until the wood dries. Will be flat as original without splitting or injecting for glue, has worked every time for me.

[Dan Walker]

   I have used the method that Fred uses, but instead of spray adhesive I have taken titebond and mixed it with a little water .. I take this watered down glue and inject it into the slit with a syringe.
  I need a larger syringe because of the thickness of the glue.
 Also as Fred suggested,  tape each side of the slit so when the glue squishes out it won't glue everything else around it. .Place a flat board on the slit with a HEAVEY weight on top of it. [or clamp the board ,if possible] Tape the flat board on the bottom with masking tape so the board won't get glued down.
   I do this before I do any stripping so any residue glue won't get on the top  of the veneer, it may get on the old lacquer [but that will be stripped of later] 
As others have said there is no sure fire way and sometimes it works very good , and other times it does not work so good.

[codefox1]

Agree, whatver else, AFTER stripping, when full extent of the problem becomes known. Of course stripping often makes the problem worse, but it is better to know what you're up against at the earlist stage. If wrinkles appear in several places, a little experimenting with some of the recommendations already made in the least noticible area may yield a good solution to that particular cabinet.

[tom.seeger]

I usually inject carpenters glue using a syringe. However another method that I have used for really big bubbles, is to carefully drill from the backside using a 1/16 drill bit. Drill only through the wood, not the veneer. Drill using high drill speed but very very low pressure. Then inject carpenters glue into the hole and clamp the veneer down.