I have a nice rosewood veneered topped coffee table that has been subject to some damp. As a result some of the veneer is blistered and lifting. It is not cracked, just looks like air bubbles in wallpaper ! Is there anything that I can do to improve/repair the surface ? Thanks Brian
There are a couple of woodwork & joinery speciality groups that may also be worth posting to.
Rick
Depends on how much work you want to do.
You can get some router bit sets that are designed to allow near invisible replacement of sections of veneer by routing away the damaged section and cutting an exactly matching patch to insert into it.
Veneer bubbles are a standard repair technique. How you fix them varies depending on the condition of the glue, the size of the bubble, and whether it's split or open.
If the bubble has split, or it's at an edge, then you must clean out beneath it before setting it down again. There's a build-up of dust and old polish down there, and it won't lie flat without removing it. In extremis, you may need to carve the bubble out, and re-lay the veneer as a loose patch. Patching veneer is surprisingly easy - the edges hide pretty well. Just use a "boat shaped" cut, not a straight edge or obvious circle. You can use similar techniques to replace veneer patches for cigarette burns etc.
There should be very few bubbled veneer repairs that require you to replace veneer and _none_ involve a router!
Hopefully the glue is still usable. This means traditional hide glue, within about 100 years old. In this condition the old glue can be re-activated by gentle heat.
In the simplest case, a small sealed air bubble on fresh glue, then you can simply iron it down. For small bubbles the usual tool is an old tableknife with a bent-up tip, heated by a large soldering iron. Larger bubbles may require an electric iron. Use a linen tea towel for protection and heat from above it. Allow the glue to become tacky and feel sticky beneath the veneer before pressing it down fully and removing the heat. You might use a second, cold, iron here.
True air bubbles might need puncturing with a pin beforehand.
If the glue is too old to re-activate, then you need to apply some new. This will probably the bubble to be split with a grainwise scalpel cut, if not cut out and lifted. Hide glue is the stuff to use, a fairly weak mix of it. The easiest way to work with hide glue is to buy a tube of Titebond's cold hide glue and avoid all the hot gluepot malarkey completely. If you can find it (violin maker) then some people prefer fish glue, because of the high initial tack.
For rosewood, and a few others, be careful working on older veneers that have faded. The application of heat can change their colour.
After fastening a large bubble down, you've probably got some refinishing to look at. Shellac stopping sticks and refinishing are in all the usual texts.
If you want a book on furniture restoration, then the _best_ one is Bennett's "Discovering and Restoring Antique Furniture"
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