On 8/12/2013 8:47 AM, dpb wrote:
....

The vertical "line" is actually a vertical strip and measures right at
3/32" thick.
....

She might as well know what it is she's actually looking at as opposed
to not. And I'm certain I've told her that.

I missed what was apparently your first response -- w/ the multiple
threads that wasn't too hard.

I see what lead you astray is that you apparently interpreted the first
pictures as showing vertical sanding scratches and the dark areas as
remaining original finish instead of as the veneer substrate cross-grain
and the heavier absorption of her applied stain in those areas. W/ that
as a starting point, then I can see your continuing down that road.

But, the clues that that isn't the case are in the shape and the shading
of the "scratch" pattern overall. It is tapers to nothing very
gradually to the right and is in a general rounded nose. There's just
no way in which she could have produced those scratches by vertically
sanding in that pattern w/ the table top in place and the shading is the
result of the veneer thickness from the point it was sanded through
entirely until it gradually has sufficient thickness to effectively soak
up an even amount of stain.

It's a classic case -- if you've got an old veneered flat panel hollow
door around that isn't doing anything useful, sand on it in one spot for
a while and see that you can reproduce exactly that pattern and coloring
by sanding through the surface veneer.

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