Expert: Eileen Cronk - 3/20/2008

Question
hi!
I have a piece of furniture that is made of veneer(drawers)and wood(rest of the piece). I would like to paint it(distressed look).
Some small chunks of veneer are missing and I am wondering if I can remove all the veneer and how I do it. Also how do I prepare the whole dresser before I start painting.
Thanks

Answer
Hi Rosa
Nice to hear from you.
You can easily remove veneer by applying heat to it.
This will soften the glue.
You can apply the heat with an old iron set on high.
Simply run the iron over a small edge section, then as the glue softens get a metal scraper about 3 inches wide and run that under the veneer. As you keep moving your iron, keep lifting the veneer with the scraper.
Its real easy and you will get the hang of it.
Makes a mess of the iron though.
You can also use a heat gun in the same manner as the iron.
You are not going to like what you find under the veneer.
You are not going to have a nice surface to paint, but its hard to tell folks that until they have experienced whats under veneer.
If the veneer damage is only minor, I recommend filling the missing areas with wood filler then a sanding over the entire piece.
Its a lot easier.
Now I know that you will ask "whats under veneer".
Well first off you have all the old glue residue to deal with.
Here is a link that may help in removing your glue.
http://www.woodcentral.com/bparticles/repair.shtml
You will still have residue.
Then aggressive sanding. And in the nooks and crannies and corners, its darn near impossible to sand this residue off.
Next you will have the wood itself.
You may be very surprised to see the poor quality wood that is under veneer. A lot of it has had a putty like filler applied in the big holes. And a lot of the wood will have a coarse grain that does not look nice painted. And the grain can run any which way.
So armed with this info, I will leave the decision in your hands LOL.
Good Luck with this and get back to me if you run into problems.
Kindest Regards
Eileen