MKX-420G veneered door timber

I refer to the vertical wood at top of door that is bevelled and has veneer.

my question relates to the nature of the veneering process.

it seems to me the way this piece is veneered changed between MKX and 420G ?

It would seem the MKX was finished in the following way;

straight grain veneer on top & side bevels, fore & aft bevels base timber, with a burl veneer overlay on top, but not covering the bevels ?

420G…no straight grain underlay, but burr walnut all over, fore & aft bevels base timber ?

Its also notable the color is much lighter than ordinary burr walnut, as I have re-veneered a few items, and this is noticeable.

have managed to obtain 14 large sheets of very light coloured butt burr walnut, that should closely match the original light color of the veneer used in the MKX-420G sedans

I have many spare base timbers on which the veneer has peeled off to practice.
note the joinery in some of these is complex, difficult to replicate, especially if they are missing entirely. Usually these parts are discarded from wrecks

Greetings All,

The part that always scares me on veneer replacement is making sure the veneer is sealed on the glue side BEFORE gluing, otherwise the glue permeates the thin veneer and doesn’t top finish properly.

Indeed

I use a grain filler dyed to match the color of the timber and hold it up to strong light to make sure no glue ruins the top surface

In the above pic, there is an example of an original 420G item, lighter in color, and damaged,
The darker one is one I did to replace it, but uses the darker walnut veneer that is most commonly available.

after many years of searching, these large sheets came up for auction with large sections of lighter wood, stated they were 70yrs old. There should be enough to do an entire vehicle, got a good price to

I have many “blanks” to practice on from salvaged wrecks, Oz suns destroys the veneer.

also “let In” some repairs using chips of matching veneer from the wrecks

there is approx 45 wood veered items in a 420G, I have repaired some, & re-coated many, but luckily most of them are good

tossing up whether to veneer a MKX cantrail and install that in my 420G

The sundestroys the veneer OR the finish.

I ceased using period finishes in favor of urethane. I can get it with a us tint that protects it, wet sand it and re-apply another coat every 6-8 hours.

Nice thing about wet sanding, I can go full gloss shine or mimic 50’s era semi gloss.

Old style glues were problematic too.