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Hi folk

I'm what you might call a novice at fiddling around with Edisons, although I did purchase an A100 minus
the legs over 30 years ago, but it's been sitting around waiting for me to retire (possibly a few year away - hopefully).

I have a few questions relating to Amberola & A100 Moderne cabinets that I'm currently trying to fix up.

1. What is the thickness of the veneer on these machines?
2. I'm guessing the veneer is American "Tiger Oak", as it's distinctively different to the Mahogany?
3. Is this material readily available and easy to source and easy to post/ship?

Thanks & Regards

Hopefully when I satisfactorily finish some work, I'll share my experience to compensate for all the questions I'm asking.

Regards
SydneyAde

The actual name of "tiger oak" is quarter-sawn oak. However, Amberola 30's are not veneered with quarter-sawn oak, but rather with rift-sawn oak.

The most wasteful way to saw oak for veneer is quarter-sawing, however it reveals the most figure in the grain, and consequently is the most expensive veneer.

Rift-sawn oak is not nearly as wasteful in the cutting process, and while some desirable grain is revealed it is markedly plainer than quarter-sawn veneer and the price is more moderate.

Plain-sawn oak uses the log most efficiently for cutting, but reveals little or no fancy grain, and is the least expensive of the three types.

I would suggest googling these types of cuts to see diagrams of the cutting schemes. Not sure of the thickness of the veneer used originally, but I would expect modern veneers to be comparable. Sanding to finish will reduce the thickness a bit anyway after the veneer has been adhered to the substrate.

You can find oak veneers on Ebay. There are different varieties of oak, such as red, white and so on. Choose according to what you are trying to match. You can ask for samples if you are not sure. Enough to do an Amberola 30 should cost about $15. I once re-veneered the top of a 30, and used straight grained oak veneer. The thickness varies between 1/32 and 1/42, although every once in a while, thicknesses outside that can be found. Don't choose paper backed veneers as they don't allow enough thickness if you have to sand a lot to match surface levels. Cheers, Russie Ofria

JohnM wrote:The actual name of "tiger oak" is quarter-sawn oak. However, Amberola 30's are not veneered with quarter-sawn oak, but rather with rift-sawn oak.

The most wasteful way to saw oak for veneer is quarter-sawing, however it reveals the most figure in the grain, and consequently is the most expensive veneer.

Rift-sawn oak is not nearly as wasteful in the cutting process, and while some desirable grain is revealed it is markedly plainer than quarter-sawn veneer and the price is more moderate.

Plain-sawn oak uses the log most efficiently for cutting, but reveals little or no fancy grain, and is the least expensive of the three types.

I would suggest googling these types of cuts to see diagrams of the cutting schemes. Not sure of the thickness of the veneer used originally, but I would expect modern veneers to be comparable. Sanding to finish will reduce the thickness a bit anyway after the veneer has been adhered to the substrate.

Thanks JohnM, very interesting and fact full, much appreciated. The oak is beautiful timber. I bought an old Amberola from the US, what I thought
was old 'crocodiled' mahogany in parts. I washed the cabinet with 4 parts alcohol, one part lacquer thinner (with fine steel wool and cotton cloth,
and discovered the most extraordinarily handsome oak cabinet underneath. There is one small part that needs new veneer, also a little lifting which
glue will fix, but I'm very happy. Thanks again for your advice

startgroove wrote:You can find oak veneers on Ebay. There are different varieties of oak, such as red, white and so on. Choose according to what you are trying to match. You can ask for samples if you are not sure. Enough to do an Amberola 30 should cost about $15. I once re-veneered the top of a 30, and used straight grained oak veneer. The thickness varies between 1/32 and 1/42, although every once in a while, thicknesses outside that can be found. Don't choose paper backed veneers as they don't allow enough thickness if you have to sand a lot to match surface levels. Cheers, Russie Ofria

Thanks Russie. I'm glad you pointed out the pitfall with paper backed veneers. At this stage I'll probably stick with patching until I perfect the process
then mover to larger projects, i.e., "abandoned" machines.

Thanks Again

Ade