Practice Project..small table

Hi again folks, second little project....a small table I bought for $10 that to me looked worth the effort to practice on. Its probably just a cheap mid 1900's thing..belonged to the preovious owners mother. It's a small hall table style, with nice turned legs. Not sure what the whole table is made from, but the sides are timber laminated over pine. The top surface needs work, and the laminates are coming unstuck at various points. So..whilst the whole thing is probably not even worth the $10 I paid, I want to practice how to re-fix the laminate before tackling a larger pricier item (another desk that is laminated/ veneered...never did know the difference)

I'm figuring that to re-fix the laminagte I need to remove the whole thing and hope it doesnt crack..or is there a better approach? Also, what glue is best?

The surface probably just needs some rubbing back and refinishing. I had intended to shellac it (yes I know...$$ on a swines ear! :B) as I thought that it could come up quite nicely. Alternatively, I may rub it back and then decide to maybe just wax it depending on what it looked like.

Again folks, ideas/ input welcome....more the merrier, so lets get cracking. Cheers, Lawry

Hi Lawry just a real quick post on this one. Far be it from me to say (as I too am still a novice in many things wood working), but my understanding is that a veneer is where a thin layer (usually of a higher quality/m,ore desirable timber), is glued over a lower quality/less desired timber. Laminates in building terms are the gluing together of multiple layers (thinish) of timber products to produce something. Think say laminated beams, they are cheaper, stronger and more readily available than solid timber beams.

Regarding this table, I think the best thing may be to simply to reglue the loose veneers, if you can rather than trying to prize them off, as the risk is they may break making repairs harder to achieve. If using a glue, in this instance I would go for the Anchor Weld product or even possibly good old PVA. You might need to lightly clamp the re-glued areas so that the glue has a chance to bond to the veneer back to the main frame.

Up to you, you could always try keying the shellac finish back, say using 220-240 grade and then re-coat with shellac before 400 grade, and more shellac and 0000 and wax on wax off. That would be the long route, the alternative is just try steel wool and wax and see what the finish is like. This site (Ubeaut) has a revive product, which could also be suitable if the shellac finish is not too far gone, but do this before the steel wool and wax.

Hope that helps a little.

Thanks Dave, yes...helpfull as always. This then is a laminate...the pieces lifting are an amalgam of 2 layers of some timber..dont know what but probably marginally better grade than the pine its on. It seems to have a darker and finer grain, so should come up looking good. Agree...would rather simply glue/ clamp and refinish...(once I get some headway on the piano stool) First port of call may well be to attempt to revive, and obviously if not good, key the piece back (to bare timber? ) Cheers, Lawry

Hi Lawry, yep I reckon what you outline is about spot-on for this table. If you don't have to strip it back to bare wood, so much the easier and better I reckon, but alternatively if there are problems in cleaning it up and/or any reactions, if you use a shellac finish due to the metho, then I am afraid stripping back may be your best option. Keep us posted on this one. I think we all continue to learn from each other's experiences.