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Kevin Hancock writes:

This thread topic hit home on a piano I am just finishing.  It is a
good example of when using real wood veneer is better to blend in
wood damage.   I stripped a black lacquered piano (painted in the
60's) and found some real pretty mahogany.  The piano was a
basket case with major cabinet and veneer damage, but was just
too pretty to entertain painting it black again.  After consulting with
the owners about the potential of this old Steinway, they agreed to
spend the extra money to finish it as it was originally intended.

When it came to blending this lid blemish, I could have considered
just painting in the grain during the finish application, but the angles
of view and reflection of light would have driven me crazy.

I knew that even splicing in a piece of veneer was "going to show"
to some degree as you changed the angle of view.  My goal was to
splice in a piece that would need little or no additional colorants
added in the finishing stage as I knew that, again, any colorant
added would show up ugly from one angle.

With the piece fitted and glued I drew some dye across the area
with a dark dye before spraying dye over the entire lid. The layering
of different dye helps fake the "chatoyance" of this mahogany. 
Having such pretty wood grain, I did not want to mute it with any
colorants between coats, so I did not used glaze or shading lacquer
at all.  This would have made the splice blend easier, but the trade
off would have lessened the great wood grain.

The final pictures show the lid from 2 angles.  While the repair
shows, it does not offend the eye,

Kevin Hancock


















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