Damaged Dresser: Need advice from woodworkers

Catfish

Catfish

I'll tell you what I'd do man,
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The photos below are a family heirloom dresser, part of a set we inherited from The Wife's parents. We had some careless workers in the house and the top of the dresser was damaged with water stains. (too long ago, going after them is not an option). You can see in the photos that the top is also scratched a bit from general use. I've tried nothing more than polish, and that did nothing. I'd like to make it right again but I know nothing about wood finishes.

Can anyone offer some advice on how to restore this? The rest of the piece is undamaged, so I'd be fine with working on the top only. Can it be done by a layman with instruction or should it be left to a pro?


Dresser-front.jpg

Dresser-top.jpg
 
What is the finish? The repair of the water damage is highly dependent on that.

If water got into/under the finish with out going though a scratch or puncture, then a solvent-based approach could work (i.e. the finish wasn't waterproof, like polyurethane). One can "coax" out the blemish with a sutiable solvent in an evaporative finish (lacquer). Not so with a reactive one (polyurethane).

Scratches in the finish can be polished out and/or filled with more finish so that they (largely) disappear; if they go through to the wood, then color-matching becomes the more difficult challenge.

If the top is solid wood, you have more leeway; if the top is veneer (plywood), then yiu have less depth to FAFO with.

I'm not really answering your question! Just throwing out some questions to narrow down A) what "fix" is best and B) is it a suitable DIY job.
 
Considering the number of people refinishing and repairing furniture to turn a quick profit on marketplace these days, I’d say it definitely can be a DIY job.

As @Windini said in pretty good detail, it depends on how severe the water damage is and what you consider an acceptable fix.

I’d guess the top is going to be veneer, meaning you don’t have a whole lot to work with if you have to sand it down but still doable (old veneers are noticeably thicker than current paper thin stuff). And finding a perfect color match stain to the rest of the unit might be tough.
 
Old guy at the hardware store recommended gently rubbing with a soft rag and Denatured Alcohol and/or using a white Scotch-brite pad.
 
Based on the style and age my educated guess is the finish is either catalyzed lacquer or possibly nitro cellous lacquer. Most of the factory finishes ie color are sprayed on so it is hard to exact match the color if trying to do spot repair. I have refinished lots of furniture which had this or similar issues and the only thing I ever did was strip and start over.. JMHO.
 
For the water stains, I just went thru this yesterday. Had a piece of furniture with heat/steam/water stains. Was planning on having a buddy refinish it, but thought to check the web to see if there was a way. The web said more heat. Didn't believe it, watched a video, saw it work, thought I'd give it a shot since I was already planning to refinish it. The video showed a woman holding a hair drier on high heat a 1/4 inch from the furniture and moving it around, for 10 minutes to remove a note card sized stain. I thought 10 minutes was too long and got out a heat gun, held it 3 inches away and kept it moving. 20 seconds and the stain under the heat gun was gone. You've probably got a hair drier. I'd give it a shot. Worked unbelievably well.

Before:
1712782731594.png

After:
1712782760603.png

It's not perfect, the finish on the heat treated area is a little more satin than gloss, but it'll pass the 6ft test.
 
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