[wbaradio]

I have a Philco 71 cathedral that was donated to me years ago that had been sitting in the garage for a few years along with many others radios needing restoration. This Philco had a large gouge in that pretty left-hand front walnut surround that which has the angled grain. I had recently received an Airline tombstone with a slice of veneer missing off the back edge, so thought I'd do the "veneer patch" to repair. While I had the pieces of donor walnut off a period Zenith console cabinet and the glue, I thought I'd also tackle the gouge in the Philco. 


The gouge was deep, so deep that I had cut it out level to inlay glue a small piece of underlay before gluing the veneer patch on top. This all went smoothly. It's when I started sanding that I got overly aggressive and went right through the veneer all along the edge of the surround about a 1/4"  or more from the outside edge such that you can now see the piece of underlay. I did not realize that this front surround was thin as a sheet of copy paper!!! Yes, to my undying shame I went and did it!!!!  See pics below...

I tired searching the Phorum for older threads regarding this subject, but could not find anything. Can any of you give me your approaches to salvaging this project and correcting my mis-steps. By the way, the Airline tombstone patch turned out perfect as the veneer was thicker and more forgiving.

Britt

   
   

[KCMike]

Well I'll throw out an idea though I'm novice at veneer work.
By the looks of the veneer in the picture, its pretty thin where you sanded, you might be better off cutting off the whole sanded area. If you have a piece of veneer big enough that will match.
Using a razor knife cut at an angle across the grain. I would go along the bottom side and cut out the piece you already put in then do similar toward the top.
Use a heat gun to carefully loosen the glue and with putty knife and lift out the section you will replace.

Now if the veneer is still thick enough. you could just widen the area where veneer was sanded away and try to patch in a new piece.
Others here on the phorum may have better ways of doing it. Just an idea. Hope this helps.

[Arran]

 I seem to remember that the veneer around the front arch was something called "Orientalwood". In any event Steve Davis would be the one to ask.
Regards
Arran

[Phlogiston]

Make sure that the grain is running in the same direction.

[Steve Davis]

The "Clyde Shuler" style Philco cabinets use a quarter cut mahogany in an inverted "V" match.

First, let me say, I'm not one to take the easy way. If I were going to patch the veneer, I would make a cut parallel with the grain, just below the "sand through" and replace the veneer all the way up to the match line at the top of the arch.  If I didn't like the results, I reveneer the whole arch.

Steve