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Re veneering Advise Wanted

opossumcrush

opossumcrush

The Central Scrutinizer
I want to redo the beat up veneer on a pair of speakers. The old veneer has some dings and scratches, and the cabinets have some some chipped corners. The old veneer seems like it would be hard to remove. I was curious if I could fill the imperfections with bondo, sand the cabinets and veneer over the old veneer.
I know some of you guys have re veneered a few pair of speakers. I was just curious which is the best way to go. I have never done anything like this before.
 
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You can veneer over the old veneer IF and only if it is very solidly adhered to the substrate. In addition substantially all the finish needs to be removed for good adhesion. Bondo or the like would be fine for filling dings. For veneer itself you would find a paper backed veneer easiest. A solvent based contact cement would be better than water based even though it NEEDS serious ventilation. A roller or veneer "hammer" and a veneer trimming tool. Also get a piece of mdf and extra veneer to do a some practice.
 
Agree with Steve on this as the new veneer will only be as good as what it is attached to! So get the wood as smooth as possible and maybe do a light sanding and get the bonding surface as clean and smooth as possible and try it 1st on a scrap piece of wood. kinda like painting the new paint will only bond if the surface is clean and scuffed up! And good luck with this and post us some pics.
 
Thanks for the replies. The speakers I will be doing this to is a pair of JBL l65 Jubals. The veneer that is on there now is adhered to the cabs pretty solid. That is why I did not want to try to remove it. I thought I would probably damage that mdf and require to much bond and sanding.
 
Agree on the above. The JBL veneer is virtually impossible to remove on their older speakers like the Jubal. My theory is that JBL used pre-veneered MDF/particle board, and it will be very rough if you manage to rip the veneer off of it. The Jubal has a piece of solid walnut in front of the glass top, IIRC; you may have to get a little creative to keep that piece flush with the added thickness of the new overlaid veneer; maybe you'll have to veneer it, too. Then thicken the glass padding material if necessary.
 
These are them. I picked them up off of an online estate auction.Their pics did not show the bad spots and there was no preview. The gills need recovered, wire terminals are broken,
and no glass tops.




 
You have to take in count how much are they worth and how much are you willing to spend to bring them back ??
 
Those Jubals could look great again. Google how to patch veneer; it's pretty good at covering minor chips in a subtle way, and it's not that difficult.


Also, on JBLs, the cut edge of the panels is covered with veneer edge banding. You can heat it up with an iron or hair dryer, peel it off and replace it.

http://amzn.com/B0007SVEAU
 
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Those don't look that bad. Buy some walnut veneer and try to make small patches.

I just re veneered a pair of 4311 which I got for free, they had a very hard life in a radio station and had holes on all sides where they were mounted, jbl had some nice veneer and it would be a shame to cover it if it can be saved.
 
I would NOT reveneer those. They are actually in pretty good shape. I would pull the drivers, and sand the finish off until you are to the veneer itself. Then I would see where any corner repair work is needed and splice in veneer patches, then fill the void under the veneer with epoxy. Once completed, then I like to use Watcos natural color Danish oil. Usually takes 5-6 applications with a light sanding with 300 grit between coats.
I've done this numerous times with very good results. This will also keep the value of your Jubals.

Look up my thread AR3 SA score. Those were in worse condition than your JBL, and my AR's look great.

Glenn
 
I spent several years restoring antique furniture... If you want to fill a hole... DO NOT use bondo. There are plenty of quality wood fillers that sand more easily. But the best bet is this...

Get a bucket of warm water and ivory liquid dish soap.

Using 4/0 steel wool, clean the speakers. Wash sma areas at a time rubbing in the direction of the grain. Rinse each area and then dry. It's a slow process but it will produce the best base.

Once they are clean, use colored wax sticks to fill small chips. The sticks are available at Home Depot. Or.. Look up Mohawk Furniture Refinishing Products. They have high end products that will last forever.

After you finish your repairs wax the speakers with a high quality wood paste wax such as Johnsons. Do NOT use an Automotive wax.
 
Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I think I'll go with the repairing, instead of re veneering. It doesn't look that difficult.
 
opossumcrush said:
I read that last night. I was curious what epoxy and glue you used.
Click to expand...
For gluing the veneer splices, Titebond wood glue, the epoxy is ZPoxy. It has a very thin consistency so it pours into the gaps easily and islands easily as well.
Glenn
 
You can veneer over the original veneer if your prep is good. It is better to remove the old veneer. I just removed the original veneer from a set of Roger Sound Labs 6600Hs at least 30 years old. I used a heat gun and a putty knife and it came of fairly easy.
 
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