Some or you reading this know of my quest to get a piece of furniture finished. A finisher had posession of my project for months and i could not get him to finish(no pun intended) the job. I talked to another highly recommended finisher about doing the work for me. I had no intention of telling him who I was dealing with but somehoe, it seemed appropriate and when I told him, he tole me thet the finisher was quite capable of doing the work and recommended thet i give him a “last chance ultimatum.
Within two hours, I got a call saying the he had started on the project and would finishe in a couple days. I am certain that he got a call from the second man.
When he delivered, the work was done very well, except that the veneer crotchwood drawer fronts and fold-down wirting surface was so dark that one can hardly tell that it was special wood. The beautiful grain is almost completely obscured.
I am attaching a photo of the drawer fronts. I do not have a photo of the fold-down, but it is made of the same type veneer.
I would like someone to recommend what I can do to salvage the appearance of the veneer.
Replies
Your finisher made a rookie mistake ( I know because I did it once myself). It takes very special care to finish crotches. They can not be dyed like the rest of the wood. I let the color of the crotch determine the final color of the piece. The way to approach this is to determine if just a clear coat of varnish will give you the color and clarity you want, if not a diluted dye or a glaze may be the way to go. In short a careful test run is important. In most cases oil on veneer crotches is a definite no no, unless a conditioner of some kind is applied first to limit the absorption . Also, linseed is usually prone to darken, so I use Tried and True Danish oil, which seems to darken far less than "hardware store" linseed oil.
Unfortunately there is no way that I know of to rectify this situation. The veneer is almost certainly saturated , to the point that sanding would be disastrous. Maybe if you get the topcoat off, bleach could lighten it, but that can open up its own set of problems. The Clock I posted recently in the Gallery on this site, shows a properly handled veneer crotch.
Rob Millard
Rob,
Which post is the one you mentioned? I want to look at it and run a copy for the finisher.
I told him in the beginning that the crotch veneer could not be stained.
Found it. That is some beautiful work. Not only the craftsmanship, but also the finish.
Was this photo taken after the finishing was done? On my machine at least, the color is rather light, and the grain really pops.
In any case though, judging from Rob's comments, it looks as though your best solution now is to learn to love it................. try thinking that "muted is better".
Parenthetically, I was drawn to woodworking years ago because it was one of the few activities that allowed for total personal control -- from concept to finished product. If you are going to turn out beautiful pieces such as this, maybe it is time for you to extend your mastery to include the mysteries of the finishing process. Then you will truly be captain of your own destiny........... Gezuar.
The photo was taken before any finish. The walnut really looked splotchy in the photo, but was carefully selected for grain match. I know the photo does not show it.
PS, nikkiwood
UPS just last Friday delivered an Accuspray 19c and all the other equipment I will need to make sure I am never caught in this situation again.
When the finisher said that the wood was stained, I knew I was going to love it-eventually.
I am going to make me a break-down vented spray booth and start practicing. My shop is 24X34 with a garage type door. My shop ceiling is 14'. I think I have a good working situation. All my heavy shop tools are on roller bases and when i want to finish, i can just detach from the dust collection, move a couple and get after it.
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