1850s Mahogany dining table: need veneer repair help

[David Klotz]

Folks -

I just inherited an 1850s British made mahogany veneer top with six veneered leaved, and two four leg pedestal bases with beautiful inlay. (Imported and sold by the Kensington Furniture Company in nYC, manufactured in England.) I need help with veneer repair. Fortunately, the main center section is in very good shape. One edge needs a fair amount of TLC.

The main, center section of the table appears to be veneered with highly figured mahogany. The edge of the top appears, to me, to be veneered with straight grained mahogany, stained a slightly more blonde color. Between the main section and the edge veneer, there is a drak, almost black, thin strip of transition veneer.

The largest component of the repair will require me to obtain or manufacture some of the egde veneer. In reviewing the photos, does it look like I have correct wood species for the edge veneer? It's mahogany at the edge, just straight grained, not figured?

Can I use maple for the transitional piece, and die it to color match the existing dark piece with, for example, TransTint or aniline dye?

Finally, the veneer measures .040 " thick. Is that too thick too order? If so, I'll have to make my own.

Thanks for your help.

Regards - David Klotz

[Jamie Buxton]

You can buy thick veneer. www.certainlywood.com has hondo in 1/16" and 1/10". http://wood-veneers.com/ sometimes has thick veneer.

In my experience, it is difficult to dye accent stripes like that. If you install the stripe first, the dye bleeds from the stripe to everywhere else. If you dye it first, you must install it exactly at the plane of the surrounding wood. If you sand or scrape it, you will go through the dye color. I suggest some wood with a natural color like you want -- ebony, walnut, makore, rosewood, or the like.

[David Klotz]

Jamie-

Thank you a million board feet of the finest veneer! That is the place, and I would have had a heckuva time finding it, but for you. You mentioned "hondo", but the closest match I could find was 1/16" African Mahogany, quarter cut. If I am missing something, I'd appreicate a heads up.

I will definitely follow your advice and cut the ribbon piece from something naturally as close to the right color as I can get, to avoid bleeding.

Thank you again!

-David

[Jamie Buxton]

Oops, sorry. "Hondo" is sometimes an abbreviation for Honduras Mahogany. On Certainly Wood's list, it is called "Mahogany, South American (Swietenia)". Nowadays it mostly comes from the Amazon basin.

[Steve Schoene]

The lighter border veneer could well be satinwood. It would have been a fairly common choice for that application. Honduran mahogany might well be a good choice for the repair. Definately don't substitute African mahogany--it has a grain structure that is enough different that you would notice the difference.

You can likely get the dark banding from the same veneer sources. If not actual ebony or the like, they might well have through and through dyed wood as a substitute.

Remember to do the repairs to the veneer, etc. before you strip the finish, assuming you plan to do that. And, stay with hide glue. It will make rebonding the veneer a lot easier since small amounts of residual old hide glue won't interfer with the bonding of the new.