Furniture, Wood and Cabinetry Finishing - water damaged oak veneer

Hi,

I have an golden oak veneer table that has some slight water damage that I would like to repair. The damaged area is discolored (greyish) and has some small bumps. The bumps are very small, about the size of a dime and about <1/32 tall at the center. I pressed on the bumps with my finger nail and it did not deflect so I'm thinking the veneer is still stuck to the base partical board.

My questions are:

1) Do you think the veneer is salvagable?

2) How do I fix the bumps? Block sanding?

3) What type of finish should I use? Is Minwax Polyshade a good product?

tia

If the substrate is particle board and the raised spots are a result of moisture being absorbed into it, then the repair will require removal of the veneer in the affected area, smoothing the irregularity in the substrate, then reattaching the veneer.

This is repairable.

If the water did not loosen the veneer, it may be mounted with contact cement.

Strip the top, then try a damp cloth over a section to loosen by letting it sit for several hours to see if the glue loosesn. If not, try watm water on the cloth. If there is no release of the veneer at all, then it must be on with contact cement rather than hide glue.

You can carefully warm the veneer with a hair dryer or clothes iron and slowly peel the veneer off. This is a tedious job and will take a relatively long time. Once the veneer is off, you can repair the substrate by sanding. Reapply the veneer with the contact cement if it is what was used orginally. If it was on with hide glue, hide glue will be the most appropriate method remounting the veneer.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for your reply.

I checked the thickness of the veneer. It is fairly thick suff (~1/16). This is a "real" office desk, designed and built to last many years. So I took a chance and block sanded the bumps smooth. No penetration of the veneer. It is all smooth. :)

Now time to "stain." I purchased some Minwax Polyshade. I hope this stuff is good. Any opinions?

Try the Polyshade on an inconspicuous area or a piece of oak to make sure the color will match.