You've found a beautiful old table at a flea market. The grain is gorgeous, the price is right, and you're already picturing it stripped and refinished.
Stop before you reach for the sander. If that gorgeous surface is veneer, a thin layer of fine wood glued over a cheaper base, a power sander can burn straight through it in seconds. Modern veneer can be as thin as 0.5 mm. Once you hit the glue line, the surface is ruined.
Here's how to tell what you're working with.
1. The edge
Look at the edge of a tabletop or drawer front. In solid wood, the grain of the top carries on around the edge. In veneer, you'll see a distinct seam where the thin layer meets the base, or an edge strip with different grain.
2. The repeat pattern
Look for perfectly symmetrical grain, where the left side mirrors the right like an open book. This is called book-matching, and it's almost certainly veneer. Nature doesn't make mirror images. Craftsmen cutting thin sheets from the same log do.
3. The hidden faces
Check the underside, the back and inside the drawer openings. Exposed chipboard, MDF or a plainer wood behind a fancy face means veneer.
Don't trust the weight. Many people assume heavy means solid. But particleboard is heavier than many solid woods, so weight alone tells you very little.
It's veneer. Now what?
Veneer isn't bad news. Plenty of fine antique furniture is veneered, and it can be restored beautifully. It just needs a gentler hand: strip the old finish chemically rather than by sanding, and sand only by hand, with 180 grit or finer.
Start with the free guide. Volume 1 of The Master Restoration Collection, The Wood Alchemist, covers identifying wood species, telling solid from veneer, assessing damage and stripping old finishes safely. It's free when you join our mailing list.
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