Repair veneer damaged by drill

[Doug Hobkirk]

I drilled a bunch of holes for pins for adjustable shelves in a cabinet. Going great. Then... "Damn!" My drill stop slipped. The bit went through, splintering the back side.

There will be no stress on the surface when I'm done. I should be able to stain or color the area well enough once the repair is done and I've sanded the entire end of the cabinet (I also patched a corner where the veneer had been broken off).

I had planned to fix it by gluing down the splinters with super glue and then filling the remaining area with epoxy wood filler. I've read (I think) that super glue is useful for reattaching splinters in lots of situations, in part because it glues very quickly. After trying it and it not working, I realize that the underlying ply isn't very smooth. I need advice on what works.

In this picture the cabinet is standing on end for my convenience repairing.

This is the damaged area - the golf tee is there for reference purposes.

This shows about how high I can pry the splinters (it's approximately the same on both sides).

[John TenEyck]

I would cut a diamond shaped piece of veneer out some left over material, taking care to pick an area where the grain will closely match the damaged area. Obvously, the patch needs to be larger than the damaged area. Remove the plywood sections underneath leaving just the veneer. Lay the veneer patch over the damaged section (you could even attach it temporarily with a drop of two of superglue), with the long axis of the diamond aligned with the grain, and cut around it with an Exacto knife or similar, until you've cut through the veneer on your cabinet. Remove the patch and carefully remove the damaged veneer. You can use a router and small bit freehand, if you are careful, or just use a chisel. Anyway, you have to get the veneer out w/o going too deep. Once it's out and the depth is right glue in the patch. If it sits a few mils high that's good, just as long as it's not low. Once the glue is dry, sand or scrape flush with the surrounding area and you're good to go. They make template router kits for this, but it's not hard to do as I've described, and you can custom size your repair size.

[Mike Schuch]

Uggh!!!! Swearing seems to help!

Epoxy, additional splinters from scrap, saw dust mixed with the epoxy, put wax paper over it and roll it fairly flush with a roller and then sand and refinish????

If you don't have the face frame on yet I would consider putting a whole new piece of veneer over the existing veneer recovering the entire side if it is going to be exposed in a very noticeable area.

[Pat Barry]

I think it depends on how visible this will be on the finished product. Best approach would be to cut the defective piece out and inlay a new piece of veneer from scrap plywood leftovers. If you have more than a couple spots to patch and / or it will be highly visible area, and you are not willing to paint it all then you just may have to start over.

[Gordon Harner]

I would consider making a repair in the same way that is used in manufacturing plants and by furniture dealers. Inject CCA a little at a time a layer at a timemake sure that the plys are flush with the surrounding layer. Missing material can be replaced with epoxy. There are about 6 different wood repair epoxy colors available, I forget the brans, they come in a cardboard tube. Once everything is dry use artist's colors to replace the grain and match the color of the finish. Also check on the finish forum or post your question there. The real key is how noticeable the repair will be to the average person, not you, you'll always know about it, but will anyone else notice? Other than that if it is in your face cover with veneer, try Rockler, or a plywood skin. BTW many of these repairs are very effective. You could also contact Mohawk Finishes for help or a local repair person, they do amazing work.