Removing veneer?

[montela]

Want to refinish a night table. It has a veneer coating which has cracked and chipped. I'd like to get it off.
Any suggestions,

[jimbo]

Unless it is a very old table done with hide glue, which can be steamed, the easiest approach may be to sand the veneer off using a large belt sander.

Is is scratched so bad that you can't just lightly sand and refinish the veneer?

What do you plan to do when you get the veneer off? The seconday wood is probably not an attractive species.

[devidmike]

The wood under the veneer is called secondary wood---you will need to replace the veneer is you remove it.
And removing it---the veneer has been glued on---is most easily done by sanding it off. That will be prohibitively expensive in sandpaper and mess.

[hj]

Whether it is removable or not depends on how it was attached. Some veneers are applied with a hot iron, and can be removed the same way.

[dgold]

Have you tried using a heat gun to soften the adhesive underneath the veneer. If it works, you may be able to pull the veneer off in large sections.

I'd try to heat up a corner and get a putty knife underneath. Then insert a dowel rod or a piece of scrap. Keep moving the dowel or scrap in so as to keep "pushing" the veneer pulling up from it's underside. As you heat the veneer, if it softens the adhesive, it will release. Move the dowel, heat, repeat.

Watch your fingers too. Heat guns - even cheap ones - can reach temps over 1,000 F.