"Tom Watson" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 3 Jun 2004 21:42:18 -0400, "John Grossbohlin"
wrote:

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This is an interesting problem.

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The whole game is to unify the look of the piece without making it too
dark, and this can be difficult to achieve - and takes much patience.

Good luck, and let us know how you make out.

Tom,

Thanks for the thoughtful reply. You suggested an approach I hadn't
considered... I had been thinking more along the lines of a gel stain and
poly to hide the mess and then decided there were probably more craftsman
like alternatives! ;-)

I do have access to spray equipment but would not be opposed to doing it
with brushes. It is clearly a labor intensive process that would take longer
to do than the mechanical restoration. The mechanical part of the job went
quite well and pretty quick once I figured out what the missing/broken
structure was supposed to look like and do.

I've saved your reply for further consideration.

John