How to restore a veneered table top.

I have a Chinese table. Probably around 15 years old. It looks like bird's eye maple veneer. We have ascertained that the finish is shellac and we are attempting to bring some life back to it. SWMBO has sanded the top back with 240 grit, then 1000 grit and then 2500 grit sand paper. Then it was coated with shellac at a ratio of around 16g to 100ml of isopropanol. She then sanded back with 2500 grit. Recoated, then sanded back again. The concern is how to remove the sanding marks. Where do we go from here? Keep coating and sanding? 0000 steel wool? Sand in long strokes? Random orbit sander time? Wax? What kind? Start again? Any suggestions will be welcome.

Thanks again.

Hi Zaphod,

Obviously a Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy fan then?

When sanding it is important not to jump dramatically between grits. The rule is that the next up grit size is is used to remove the sanding marks from the coarser grit. It is also important to be aware that modern veneers are paper-thin so it is easy to sand right through to the underlying layer. If the veneer has lifted it is better to glue it down again so you do not sand through the bumps.

So, strip the shellac off with metho - ordinary bunnies metho will do, nothing fancy needed here. Sand with 320 (to remove the marks from the 240) then 400, That might be smooth enough at that. If really keen you could run through 600, then 800, then 1000. Nothing finer than 1000 is needed, in fact many people say nothing finer than 320 or 400 is needed. Only you can make that call but the finer grits do more burnishing than cutting and remember that the veneers are thin so the less sanding the better.

The table top should be polished with a "rubber" not a brush as brushing tends to leave marks of its own. I'm happy to give more advice if needed.

There are also plenty of other experts here who can provide more advice if needed and the UBeaut publication A Polisher's Handbook is an education in itself. See the home page of these forums if you are interested in it. (I have no personal or financial affiliation with UBeaut products - just a happy user).

Hi Xanthorrhoeas,

Thanks for the info. One question: "polished with a rubber"?

Yes, been a fan of Adams for decades. An amazing talent, taken too soon.

Hi Mr Beeplebrox

first off was the table sanded with or across the grain of the veneer?

As already mentioned you will need to sand with 320 to remove the scratches left by the 240 grit.
Also, I recommend that from here on you only sand by hand using a backing block. It will be dusty and a bit dirty, but if you vacuum up the dust as you go it will be OK. Make sure you have collected all the dust from the previous grit.

If the table is veneer, you are possibly very close to sanding through it, so take extra care.

Also, IME a Chinese made veneered table with a shellac finish is most unusual.

I fully agree about Douglas Adams. That four-part 'trilogy' has kept me and my family in humorous sayings for years.

A 'rubber' is a pad of absorbent cotton wadding that is wrapped in lint-free cotton cloth (definitely cotton not synthetic). Correct use of a rubber is what gives the superb French Polished surfaces on antique furniture and (before they went to spray lacquer) piano finishes, but do not have to be a super-high polish finish, just an even finish of the gloss level that you desire. The handbook I mentioned gives full details of how to polish with a rubber and I cannot recommend too highly that you look at it or some other manual.

But, if you do not want to buy a book a quick-and-dirty solution is to use cotton wool wadding (purchase a roll of it from the pharmacy) and old, worn out, smooth cotton sheets for the cover. Wrap a wad of the cotton wool in a section of old sheet. I have used a needle and thread to hold the sheeting around the wadding (the correct folding technique may be better). You make your rubber the best shape for what you are polishing - for a table I would make a wider, flatter rubber than if I were polishing something small and with details. The shellac needs to be very dilute - the aim is to add very fine layers on top of each other. I am not scientific about dilution rates these days so can't help there.

When polishing with a rubber it must NOT be too wet. A sopping rubber leaves lines of shellac and also dissolves the layers beneath. However, with a little practice with a damp rubber will show what can be achieved. Also, make sure each layer is very dry before adding the next layer or you just rub off the underlayer. Polishing requires patience. I would polish a large table over about a month. if the rubber sticks you can add some drops of oil - like paraffin oil - to ease its movement. Keep the rubber in an airtight container (like Tupperware) between polishing so it does not dry out.

BTW, ian's question above is critical. I wouldn't have thought of the possibility but, if the table has been sanded across the grain you will have deep scratches that you may not be able to polish out without going through the veneer. Can you post some photos? That would help to get you the best advice.

Good luck.