[Edisla]

There is no lip left where the chip is so I need to get that back in there.

[Image: http://i1289.photobucket.com/albums/b519...39ikya.jpg]

[Phlogiston]

I graft in a new small piece of wood. You are going to have to remove the grill cloth and be careful not to damage what appears to be photo finish while carefully sanding the new wood into shape. The radio will, of course, have to be refinished if you want it to disappear.

[Edisla]

I graft in a new small piece of wood. You are going to have to remove the grill cloth and be careful not to damage what appears to be photo finish while carefully sanding the new wood into shape. The radio will, of course, have to be refinished if you want it to disappear.

Kind of what I was thinking.

So do I form a new piece to fit the chip or cut out a section and go in w/ a new rectangular piece?

I'll do my best to not harm the photo finish as this cabinet needs a full refinishing.

[Arran]

 I think it would be just as much effort to make a short piece to fix the chipped area as it would be to make a new strip of wood to replace that side of the grill bar. What I don't know is how these bars were constructed, did they take a single strip of wood for each bar and cut that profile into it, or did they make each bar out of three strips of wood and tack them together? If there are small nails in the edges of each bar then it's the latter, which means you could probably pop the strip with the chipped edge right off, if not then you could take the grille bar in question out, and run it through a table saw to remove the old edge, then make a new piece and glue and nail it on. Regardless of what you do, if you can remove the grille bars it will make it much easier for you to work on them, the bar to the left of the one you asked about  looks pretty banged up as well.
Regards
Arran

[Phlogiston]

You can do which ever is easier. When big parts are missing I make new ones. On a lot of trim, I patch it.

If you have the patience, you can whittle down a piece to nearly the exact size. I usually try to match the broken surface, sometimes smoothing it (the broken surface) a bit, glue in the piece and take off the extra after the glue has dried. A Dremmel tool will help a lot with this.

[tab10672]

I personally would file it into a smooth concave curve and glue a piece in that matched the contour, that way the patch and grain wouldn't be as noticeable.

[Phlogiston]

Actually, when grafting, especially veneers, jagged, uneven junctions are your friend. Strait lines, like they did at the factory (repairs) are very noticeable. On trim that has dark tonner on it, almost any method will look OK. Filling broken edges with wood putty will just make them weak and prone to damage. The grafts are strong. I have never had to deal with one a second time. If the trim is going to have little or no color added then a pile of old cabinet parts comes in handy. Wet the closest match (lightly) and the original trim to see how good a color match you will have with finish on it. Fresh sanded wood may be an entirely different shade than you thought.

Good luck