frank1492 wrote:
As you can see, it's pretty nasty:
http://s132.photobucket.com/albums/q...F4160Small.jpg

Looks tricky to me. Bleach then sanding. You'll never stay sanding
100% with the grain so I'd suggest an RA "random orbit" sander. Be
careful not to sand through the veneer.

Something was said about it not being veneer, it sure looks like veneer
to me. If the same pattern is on the bottom then it *may* be solid.
The thing is now the way they stamp and stain wood to make it look real
is getting better all the time and some people can't tell the diference.
When they stamp the fake grain onto the wood, they often stamp the
bottom too to match! They even stamp it hard enough to purpously make
slight ridges between two fake pieces of veneer so you can feel what
seems like an imperfect veneer/solid wood joint, but it's just stamped
in. I don't think your piece is stamped, based on the way the water
stains meet each other and react differently with the different veneers.

If it's stamped, you will know as soon as you start to sand.