Finishing a burl desktop!

Re: Finishing a burl desktop!

Don Stephan

Are you planning to use a stripper?

Are there any spots where the veneer is no longer glued to the substrate?

I'd Avoid

Mark Mandell - Gone Round In New Jersey

chemicals for fear of staining delicate veneer.

I'd opt for a well sharpened and burred card scraper to just remove the existing finish. Any low spots can be gently sanded to match.

Other way is with a good R-O sander planning on going thru a number of 150 grit discs. No courser than 150 for fear of going through the veneer, especially at the edges and corners. In fact, I'd use a block and sheet paper to do the corners and edges, keeping the power sander away from those areas.

Once the wood is of an even color across the refinish area, while I'd prefer to oil, then seal with dewaxed shellac, then topcoat. The problem will be, if only the top surface is being done, matching the color of the other veneered parts. Without seeing the piece, I think I'd skip the oil, use two light coats of super blond dewaxed shellac, and then pick a gloss waterborne topcoat like General's Hi-Perform poly , Target's Em-Tech, or General's Enduro. I'd also have some Light Brown and/or Amber TransTint dye with which you can carefully tint some of the topcoat product to sneak up on a color match with the other veneered surfaces.

Re: Finishing a burl desktop!

Yonak

Tara, it's hard to know how to advise someone without knowing their level of experience or aptitude to the task.

Mark's suggestion of using a card scraper is a good one but, if you have no practice in using one, you could seriously damage the veneer. Don's question about using a stripper and places where the veneer has raised is a good one. Liquids, such as stripper, could wrinkle raised veneer. This can be fixed, but it takes some level of expertise and the right tools.

If you feel competent to tackle the job and have the right tools you should be good to go but, if you lack the experience, perhaps you should let a professional handle it. You were astute to ask for advice as there are, surely, ways a project like this can go wrong on a rare piece of furniture.

Think about how you'll remove the old finish. Think about how you'll make repairs and prepare the surface for the new finish. Think about what type of finish you want to apply and how you'll do it.

That's the problem

David Yoho

Tara, it's hard to know how to advise someone without knowing their level of experience or aptitude to the task.

That's the problem with giving advice for posts like this and why I seldom respond. Given the way the post is written, I get the feeling this person has little to no experience with refinishing or restoring. While a response like Mark gave is good, it may well have gone over the poster's head.

A couple of things to consider -

1. we can't see the piece to begin to formulate a cure

2. we don't know the poster's skill or experience level

3. most likely depending on age and condition, there's likely to be loose veneer that will need to be dealt with the proper way.

The best thing I could advise is if one lacks the experience, skill, and tools for a proper job like this, your best bet is to have someone who does have a look at it.