What is the best way to Sand Veneer?

I have several speakers and a dresser that need to be redone. I do not want to reveneer them, just restain them.

Can I use an orbital sander or is it best to do it by hand?

Thanks.

How bad are they? If they are not real bad, you might try some Howards Restore-a-finish. I just used it on a Victrola I was thinking about refinishing because it looked so bad, and was really surprised by how great it looks. I'm glad I decided to try that first and kept the original finish.

carefully.

If you know the veneer is thick enough, you can sand it with an orbital sander, but I would suggest going by hand if there are any doubts in your mind. Do the bottom side first (if its veneered) to get a feel for the thickness and for how much you can sand safely.

Unless the veneer is thick I'd go super gently by hand...

I would also try to salvage what's there with some good Old English Scratch Cover. Put some layers on and let it soak in...

I don't sand at all, just a good scrub with some SF steel wool and denatured alcohol, strip eze if it's really bad, my personal opinion is that the scratches and scuffs lend character to the piece and i prefer to leave them.

Orbital sanders leave circular scratches that you then have to sand out by hand. The safest method is to strip the old finish first (unless you have shares in the sandpaper companies) then when thoroughly dry sand by hand in line with the grain with 220 grit wrapped around a wood block. When all the scratches are gone, or if they are too deep then leave them or you will be right through the veneer, finish up with 3220 grit.

I would steer clear of orbital sanders in my opinion they do a lousy job. They tend to always leave swirl marks. Sanding should always be done in the direction of the grain. For anything veneer I tend to do it by hand.

A slick tool you might want to consider is a cabinet scraper. It is basically a piece of steel with a burr on the end that you drag over the wood. It takes a very small amount off leaving a nice finish.

No power (As previously mentioned several times) by hand and second the scraper. If you are careful you can also scrap using a safety razor blade. Where you have 2 pieces at cross grains, I'd tape off the part not being worked to avoid cross grain scratches.

Deep scratches you can slightly reduce, but not completely remove. Dents may come out using steam to lift them (a drop of water, and a solder gun might be useful here

Thanks for the responses. The speakers will be easy enough to do by hand, but I also have this 6 drawer dresser that I would like to give a face lift and sanding by hand sounds tiring. But if that is what it takes.

A random orbit sander leaves very few marks and they can be dealt with by a final hand sand. Careful though, this kind of sander can be quite aggressive.

Most important when sanding veneer is to go very lightly at the edges and arrises. If the sanding block or sander isn't completely supported it tends to cut more deeply so its very easy to go through the veneer at those points.

Use a good sander and the swirls it makes if any it leaves will be minimal.

Cabinets scrapers work well also.

For larger speakers and large furniture, chemical stripping and mechanical sanding will speed up the job quite a bit.

I would agree that for anything small like a wooden case for an audio component, hand sanding (with or without pre-treating with a chemical refinishing stripper) is the best idea. I would avoid a chemical stripper unless it is possible to remove the wooden case from the chassis completely, and remove all hardware, vents, grills, etc. Any chemical that can strip varnish would do serious damage to some electronic components, and can also strip the spray-on insulation on a printed circuit board. Capacitors in particular can be hurt by certain strong organic solvents. You also wouldn't want partially dissolved varnish sludge to get on anything electronic. These chemicals could also potentially affect screen printed or painted labels and lettering from the front panel of the unit. In a speaker, solvents could damage foam, paper parts, plastics, and possibly even the enamel insulation on the voicecoil wire, depending upon the exact chemical.

Several people have noted the importance of sanding with the grain. That is very important. An orbital sander takes some skill to use without putting in swirl marks, and you can get into trouble a bit faster with one. It is important to use the correct types of paper, with the correct series of grits, in the correct order, starting from coarse to fine grit. If you want a glossy finish (with a really hard wood) you may end up using 1000 grit or even higher on the final sanding, whereas 600 might be okay for a rougher finish.

Try to use something good and flat as a sanding block. This will help the evenness of the sanding. Also, be careful on corners and edges. The sanding pressure (force applied divided by the area it is applied to) is much higher if you sand hard on an edge or corner, and it is easy to blunt the corner and even sand through the veneer.

1. Were the speakers varnished to start with? It may just be furniture polish build-up. Murphy Oil Soap and a good tough rag will tell you REAL quick.

2. If #1 works, a good oil rubdown and you are done.

3. If #1 and #2 don't work, besides the other suggestions about a good, large, rubber-bottomed sanding block, and sanding only with the grain; Start with the FINEST grit of sandpaper, or finest grade of steel wool that will do the job! I just finished rebuilding a pair of KEF 104/2 that the owner wanted re-stained, and on a couple sides of the cabinets, he had evidently changed grits in his nice finishing sander to a much coarser one than needed, and those surfaces took 3 coats of stain (one of natural, 2 of the new color), and EIGHT coats of polyurethane (the hand-rubbed kind), and sanding in between coats, to get those surfaces close to matching the others. In other words, don't be afraid to start with the large-digit grits.

4. If you can figure out just how thick the veneer is before you begin, DO IT! It's easy to sand through the really thin stuff. You may have to force yourself stop sanding until everything looks even, just to avoid sanding through.