Check out this sweet folding seat bench! I just picked this up from my client. They are building a new house and want this beauty for their front porch.
She does have some issues that will need to be addressed. The wood needs to be cleaned and there is a missing patch of veneer.
This wood is staying natural so instead of filling with wood filler or bondo I am going to show you how to make a compression veneer patch.
Here is the missing veneer
The Supplies:
- Glue
- Blue tape
- C-clamps
- Wax paper
- Rags
- Wood scrap size of missing veneer
- Veneer
- Burn in knife
- Hard wax fill
- Blending powders
- Finishers Glaze
The links are for my Amazon Affiliate account please read more here. For the last three supplies check Mohawk Finishing Products. Disclaimer I am not getting paid to represent Mohawk however I use their products daily and I only recommend products that I use.
Placing the veneer on the missing area
First I selected the veneer from a pack I purchased on Amazon. I choose the most alike veneer and checked the area of the wood grain to insure my grain is going in the same direction. The I cut the veneer larger than the area.
The veneer I have is thinner than the veneer on this piece so I built up three layers of veneer with glue in between. I taped it on because I only have so many arms and I dont want the veneer to slide around.
Then I put the wax paper over the area so the glue that seeps out doesn’t end up sticking to my rags.
Next build up a lot of rags to cover the area this is the compression part. Place the wood over the top and use your c-clamps to compress the veneer into the area.
Clamping Down the Veneer
I used a thin piece of plywood on this only because the area is curved and I wanted something that would bend to form the profile. I would recommend on flat surfaces that you use harder solid wood.
Also make sure you use a lot of clamps you need pressure in every area.
Almost Completed
Took the clamps off and here is the veneer patch. I cut the veneer bigger than the area I have to shave and sand down the veneer to become level. You can use a combination of chisels and sanding to accomplish this. The slower the better, I did end up chipping out the veneer a little and had to go back and glue it in.
Final Steps to leveling
Patched veneer still has some areas that need filling 
Using melting stick with my burn in knife to level the area 
Melted wax 
melting into the wood and leveling off with the hot knife 
after leveling 
dry powder to color the patched veneer 
Finished up with glaze 
All Done! (still needs a clear coat)
I used Mohawks finishers glaze on the back of the seats just on the outside edges and then blended it in. This bench has a lot of dents and flaws all over my client wants to try and keep it on the lighter color so to blend all the defects together I choose the glaze.
Come back and see what it looks like all completed!
Thanks for reading
Tara Lou
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