dpb wrote:



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.

That is the point that I stumbled over. I disagree that there is no way she
could have accomplished that. I find it very easy to have accomplished, and
in fact more than a little bit common. Not to take a stand on either side
of these opinions, since my own observations of the pictures left me
unclear, but all the same I do see where your thoughts above are not at all
as absolute as you feel they are.



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.

Missing your point. I'm not so sure there is really anything so "classic
case" about this - though, in the end I'm not prepared to argue that your
conclusions are wrong.

--

-Mike-