Veneered furniture can be very expensive. what that means is that the table itself, the top mainly, will be made out of a less expensive wood - poplar, basswood, aspen or others - very stable woods, and there will be a thin layer of cherry veneer covering it. to get an idea of what I am talking about, you can look at a piece of furniture grade plywood, oak or birch are both available at Lowes and Home Depot. Those are made of veneers that are placed at right angles to each other to make them stronger, but the idea is the same. The very top layer, and perhaps the bottom layer, will be made out of oak or birch in this case.
The veneer is very thin and if you are refinishing it, you have to be careful
1. Not to lift it, cause it to become unglued - called de-lamination if you want the word for it
2. Not to sand it too heavily as you can sand right through it if you don't know what you are doing.
Putting veneer down again after it has de-laminated is an absolute PITA and replacing a piece that is damaged requires some good wood working skills.
At a furniture store you can tell if it is veneer instead of solid wood by looking at the end grains - where you would suspect the end of the boards to be on the table or whatever. If it has a natural wood grain, just like the top, that means that the end grain has been veneered, thus covering the base woods.
Veneer does not mean the furniture is a lower quality, some veneer work - especially where they have put a design in the wood - is a sign of good cabinetmaking.
If you have a veneered top on a table, look at the material that they made the legs and apron out of. If it is a quality piece, it should be a solid wood made out of the same wood as the veneer on the top of the table. It can be laminated boards which will not denigrate the quality of the furniture.
they would only veneer the flat surfaces, not round legs.
The veneer is very thin and if you are refinishing it, you have to be careful
1. Not to lift it, cause it to become unglued - called de-lamination if you want the word for it
2. Not to sand it too heavily as you can sand right through it if you don't know what you are doing.
Putting veneer down again after it has de-laminated is an absolute PITA and replacing a piece that is damaged requires some good wood working skills.
At a furniture store you can tell if it is veneer instead of solid wood by looking at the end grains - where you would suspect the end of the boards to be on the table or whatever. If it has a natural wood grain, just like the top, that means that the end grain has been veneered, thus covering the base woods.
Veneer does not mean the furniture is a lower quality, some veneer work - especially where they have put a design in the wood - is a sign of good cabinetmaking.
If you have a veneered top on a table, look at the material that they made the legs and apron out of. If it is a quality piece, it should be a solid wood made out of the same wood as the veneer on the top of the table. It can be laminated boards which will not denigrate the quality of the furniture.
they would only veneer the flat surfaces, not round legs.