How To Remove Veneer From Wood

Less than 5 minutes from my house lives a very unique "flea market" store. It's exactly what it sounds similar — flea market in shop class — except instead of somewhat organized booths selling random crap, it'southward a completely disorganized building with so much junk stuffed in it you can barely walk around.

At present, this kind of place is my female parent's surface area of expertise. And so as y'all might expect, the first time she visited she wasted admittedly no time bussing herself over to see what the flea market place had to offer. When she returned, it was with at least a couple things she did not need, including, just non limited to, this table:

Learn how to remove veneer with this quick and easy side table makeover. Thrifted from a flea market, the nightstand was in terrible shape, but a little work goes a long way! #thrifted #furnitureflip

Information technology looks dainty from afar, but once you're actually sitting next to it, you can see that the veneer is not in great shape.

The table'south lived like this up at our Wisconsin cabin for the final year or then, but this summer, I decided to exercise something about.

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How To Remove Veneer

Materials

Heat Gun– My dad allow me borrow this one from Harbor Freight. It worked merely fine for this trivial project, though I accept no idea how it holds upwards long term.
Chisel/Prybar/Putty Pocketknife
Orbital Sander– I dearest my Dewalt Orbital Sander. I used to have a cheaper one that took forever to sand. This one works so much ameliorate, and I'm so glad I splurged on it!

Stride 1: Warm the Veneer

I started by using my heat gun to warm up the veneer. The oestrus melts the adhesive, making the veneer easier to remove. It likewise melts/deforms any finish that's been applied, and then information technology starts looking a bit bubbly.

For the most part, the veneer I was removing was pretty loose already, so the everyman level of the heat gun was more than plenty. You might to use the higher setting if your veneer is ameliorate adhered than mine, though.

Step 2: Pry Off the Veneer

Starting at the edges, slowly lift the veneer off of the furniture. I had the most luck with a putty knife, but a chisel or prybar could piece of work too. I moved slowly, doing my all-time to keep the veneer in one piece. When my putty knife couldn't reach whatever further into the veneer, I'd starting time lifting it off with my hands instead. Sometimes, I got lucky and it came away in big pieces!

Since the wood under the veneer was damaged in some places, I planned to paint the slice. This meant I just needed to remove areas with loose veneer, which saved me a bunch of fourth dimension!

Step 3: Sand

While the veneer on the side of the table came off smoothly, the meridian was a little more difficult.

There were a number of small chips that remained, but a quick sanding with medium dust sandpaper on my orbital sander cleared that right up! I as well gave the sides a thorough sanding as well, just to smoothen everything else.

Step 4: Finish

I filled in some of the uneven parts of the table with wood filler, then painted all the previously veneered portions a dark grey. I absolutely beloved how it turned out!

I honey the dissimilarity between the forest and the grey paint. I'chiliad such a sucker for two-toned pieces! My TV Lift Cabinet is painted similarly, and then clearly it's something I'm into.

I think it'southward so much ameliorate than the damaged veneer that covered it before. Plus, it was an like shooting fish in a barrel projection, which is ever a bonus!

The last production will become next to my mom's chair upwardly at the cabin. It'southward going to look smashing, and I'1000 so excited for my mom to run into it next time she's upwardly at that place for a visit. If you call up it's a great projection too, go ahead and salve this postal service to Pinterest so you tin can notice it again later!

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