Fun with Veneer...NOT

I am resurrecting a old singer sewing machine for a client. I was a bit intimidated by the task at hand because I've never really messed with Veneer. The top of the machine was the worst part as it had a large chip that would need to be patched. I had some 2 inch birch veneer strips that I purchased so I held my breath and went for it...To all the professionals out there that are shaking your head, hang on and watch the fun, get a laugh.

 

I got out the trusty iron and pasted these babies on.  I trimmed them up, patched the other chips with filler and sanded.

 

I thought it was going great at this point, I mean its wood, it can be stained to match, right?

Cleaned her all up and grabbed the stain.

 

 

Epic fail! I then mixed up a burnt ember paint with a glaze watery mixture and slapped that on, this is what you see above. At this point I was in full out panic mode, well not really, I'm not really the panicky type. But I did sit at the desk and cry think hard about what I was going to do to fix this.

 

Finally it came to me, I have a antique singer sewing machine! So yep, I swapped the tops and stained mine to match.

 

This is after the first coat and not yet sanded. I will say that the original top, now that I've messed with it, isn't bad. I'll show you once I actually restore mine.

 

I wasn't going to write this one up but decided if it helps one person to NOT do this, then I'm good. Note to self, next time replace all the Veneer, do not patch, repeat do not patch...

 

Naomi Grace