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Hey Guys,

I am removing the veneer from the original plywood and am experiencing the following "chipping" where some plywood is coming off with the veneer:



Fortunately, this is on the first piece that I was testing the removal process on, so I can simply get another piece of plywood and cut a new piece to put the veneer on. However, it raises the question of what to do if/when this occurs during veneer removal on pieces I cannot remove from the boat (i.e. the bulkheads). Should I fill any voids with epoxy resin and colloidial silica? Wood filler?

The "chipping" seems to occur when I am folding the veneer over to get a piece to crack off so I am not working with a huge hot sheet of veneer where I can't see what I'm doing very well. However, if there is a better way to remove to avoid this, please chime in.

Thanks in advance,

John Vietor

John,

Try to remove the formica in large pieces, using a wedge/chisel to break the bond (shear break versus tensile break). I don't think you will be able to remove the formica without some de-lamination of the plywood because the contact adhesive is stronger than the wood itself. To repair, I would use regular Bondo rather than wood fillers. Bondo provides a superior, water resistant, bond and will sand out smoother than wood filler (in my opinion/experience). You could also use an epoxy fairing compound, but I don't think there is any advantage and alot more $$.

To my eyes, your pictures looks like a normal result of the removal process. You'll need to sand off all the goo and loose wood before applying the Bondo.

Bondo...perfect!

Thank you!!!

You will find it come off much better if you heat it first good heat gun warm the area then use the scraper or multimaster.
I use this method on Formica and veneers

I've been using a heat gun set at 1050 degrees Fahrenheit.

I am going to go out on a limb here since I have not actually done what I suggest, but I have given this issue some thought as it relates to my veneer application technique mentioned in another post..

If you want to use my technique with Titebond or similar water based glue I think the substrate you are veneering needs to be of wood or some other porous material, I don't think it will work on bare fiberglas or epoxy. (I don't use Bondo but I suspect it is epoxy.) Therefore, if I was dealing with a plywood surface that needs a lot of filling, as shown in the above pic, I wouldn't use epoxy or other non porous material as filler, instead I would use standard wood putty, which I believe is more porous. I know you can apply wood veneer to almost anything if you use epoxy, but at least on vertical surfaces that require some curing time, which means you would have to tape the veneer in place to keep it from sliding down.

I would like to hear if anyone tries this, as I know there is a very good chance that removing formica from a wood surface could involve some wood surface damage.

I wanted to put this up as a reference. I'm removing the veneer on the head door, which is a cored door. I want to minimize any delamination on the thin area over the cored part of the door. I found that if I use a simple straight edge (as opposed to a scraper) and heat up the area in the direction I am moving, I am getting zero delamination. Here's a pic:

I assume you mean you are using a wide putty knife when you say "straight edge"?

I have been thinking about building a new head door, but thinking about your and 34Hatt's tips I think I will just remove the formica on both sides of the original and veneer it.

Somebody in the past must have locked the door and they broke and repaired it where the lock is. The formica there is all chipped and ugly looking.

No, I was literally using that metal straight edge in the picture that is laying under the Formica. However, when I got to the end I wound up with a few spots of delamination. Not sure what it is, but the delamination always seems to be on the ends or edges. Maybe those areas were clamped at the factory and had better contact cement penetration into the wood.

I will say this: The most expedient method so far has been the heat gun and a pry bar after getting an edge started with a putty knife. The ability to tap the pry bar with a rubber mallet and gently apply pressure to push up the Formica while heating the area with the heat gun has worked pretty well.

Now I'm cleaning the glue off with acetone and the putty knife and following that up with 60 grit sand paper.

I'm going to test your Titebond trick on an edge first to make sure the contact cement that is in some of the grain of the plywood surface will still allow good adhesion. We'll see. I'm hopeful it will work as I can't stand the idea of trying to use contact cement on a vertical bulkhead.