On 8/14/2013 11:57 AM, dadiOH wrote:
wrote in message

On 8/13/2013 5:45 PM, Mike Marlow wrote:
...

Thanks Karl - I wondered about that exact thing. It
simply struck me that layering up strips to make the
curves would be the easiest as I see it, but I didn't
know if that's what was commonly done in factories. So... it seems
though that the inner layers might not
be as good a grain as the outer layer - or veneer. Is
that a correct understanding? Or is it that they will
commonly use a completely different wood for the
laminate? At this point these questions are nothing
more than curiosity on my part.

Yes. Altho that's where the sharpness of the posted
pictures breaks down in determining -- one can see end
grain on the apron of roughly matching pattern -- which
did surprise me a little as I expected the base wood to
be something else entirely rather than looking as though
it probably also is oak. But, what I can't decide on is
that it looks in (I believe it was the first of the last
group) _possible_ that there's a joint in the middle but
that one may be one of dad's optical camera delusions,
not sure.

No, I saw it too. Starts at the bottom about in the center and goes up
maybe 1/2, 2/3 of the way.

I have no idea what it is but it has nothing to do with cameras or lights.
But, as you say, the grain on the apron end matches clear across, more or
less, so I don't think the line is a lamination. Sure wish I could eyeball
that dang table up close and personal

I think that actually is probably a wear mark or similar as, as you say,
there doesn't appear to be enough grain mismatch to actually be laminated.

I'd guess that apron is sectioned and sawn (essentially coopered except
probably w/ a spline or maybe even finger-jointed or the like and the
point of the veneer is to give the unbroken grain w/o the joints. There
may be some knots and such in the base apron itself, too, that make it
less than furniture grade -- perhaps they used cutoffs or the like to
fabricate the apron bases.

As said, many of the similar tables wife refinished had poplar or
another "trash" wood as the base wood for the apron; I was a little
surprised as said to see what appears as oak on this one.

The dead giveaway, though, is the characteristic pattern of the
splotching of the stain absorption and the grain normal to the veneer
grain where totally sanded thru. That it's the ply instead of just a
single veneer surface is evident from the width of the bright area at
the end that does go the full width of the apron uniformly.

I think there's an optical delusion owing to OP holding the camera too
close that the apron looks as though it is curved, but that's pretty
much immaterial to everything else.

I couldn't count the number of pieces brought to my wife when she was
doing the refinishing that people had attempted to do themselves and had
done the same thing to--some of which were actually pretty valuable
pieces if hadn't had such hackery already done to them...

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