Visited a Veneer plant recently in Europe in pursuit of exceptional Veneers for existing collections and for our new King Demure collection. It was a very interesting trip and I finally had a chance to see how a log is sliced into beuatiful panels of Veneer.
There are many fun parts of this business but selecting Veneers is definately in the top 10 most favorite chores. Designing and manufacturing a fine mahogany dining table starts with the Veneer panels in many ways. There are a few things we look for when selecting our Veneers for table tops and selecting Veneers for case goods is quite different from shopping for table top wood. Even color, richness, even and symetrical patterns, size, quanity available all play a part in selecting Veneers for our mahogany furniture.
In general, all partners agree, we come home with about 2-5% of the inventory we review while on such a road trip. It can take a very long time to sort out Veneers into C,B,A and AA grades.
Below are some pictures of Antiquepurveyor.com and partners sifting through Veneers in Europe.