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My wife bought an old desk to refinish. The previous owner claimed the desk was solid wood, not veneer. While sanding the top of the desk with 80 grit sandpaper my wife revealed three white spots in the wood.








Was the previous owner wrong, and it’s veneer, and she sanded through it? Or is it something else?

And how can she fix it? She wants to bleach the wood to lighten it, then apply a clear wax to seal.



P

Yes

Previous owner was either mistaken or they lied.

To fix that you will have to put a new layer of veneer on it.

Lol, tell her to keep sanding, it's getting lighter........

Yes sanded thru veneer, not much to do now but paint it.

A layer of plastic laminate will both fix your problem and look good.
It comes in about 500 colors and patterns. Then you no longer have to
worry about scratches.
You can easily match the base, or stain the base the color you want then match it.

Buy an XL coaster?

i'd smash it in a fit of rage. but then again, thats my go-to for all my f-uck ups.

The old owner was wrong,

^^this^^

It's easy to see it's not solid wood if you look at the end grain in the top picture.
The suggestions to cover with plastic laminate or veneer are solid. Also you could paint, just the top, dark brown or black and cover it with plate glass.

If you want to keep the wood look, you can get veneers to glue down on it. Here's 1 example: ROCKLER

I dunno. I won't claim any kin to Norm Abrams or Homer Formby, but a couple things lead me to believe she may have just sanded through the stain.
Only way to get rid of that is sand the entire thing down.

......BUT......

Not being able to actually see and lay my hands on the piece, I'll just stand down.

The end grain and repeating grain pattern say veneer.

Eh, it wasn’t an heirloom project, right? Looks like ply, edges banded with molding, having a photo finish (film thickness finish). “Looks like” probably 1/8 or 3/16 light ply panels on sundry softwood for tails and styles, legs, etc.

Depends what outcome you’re shooting for. If it’s just for “service” you could grab a small can some grey barnwood stain and touch it up, won’t match but at a glance is “serviceable”. If you want it to look fresh and right, no, what the others said are the options: laminate or veneer the top, resto-finish the bottom. Or, prime n paint. For what little the desk is worth… i dunno. Either way, cost of veneer, laminate, or paint… you gotta “want” this specific desk for it to make sense. Which is fine.

Edit: well, you could grab a faux veneer gel stain kit (marketed for exterior doors) and topcoat the top with that. Might look pretty right, actually. Sand down to bare ply first of course.

Dunno that's veneer or not, but it doesn't like it to me. 80 grit paper is waaaaaay to coarse for such endeavors IMO. Stain will be your friend, whether or not you can match the color is a guess. You could sand all the color out and put a uniform stain if you so desire.

Clearly veneer, that style usually is. A really experienced refinisher can pretty much color that in. But since y'all are doing it your self you hadn't planned on that expense.

Yup, sanded thru the veneer. If she wants to bleach it, bleach it. You may be able to stain the light spots to a better match, maybe not. Clear coat, call it good, live with it.

Looks to me like she simply got through the stain. Lower photo looks like the grain is still running true. Regardless, the entire surface will likely need to be redone.

It is solid wood; plywood.

Paint or new veneer.