I had a great time this weekend playing with accent strips. I bought small quantities of some different veneers and glued 6" pieces to a piece of scrap Okoume, then epoxied the whole thing so I could see what the finished colors would be. Very pretty. Of course, everyone asked had a different opinion as to which wood looks the best. The recipients of the canoe will be here this coming weekend and we'll let them weigh in on their opinion before deciding.

Right now the African Mahogany is winning though. Just dark enough to provide some good contrast, very pretty in color and in the same "family" as the Okoume, and the grain is very compatible with the Okoume as well. The Red Birch is kind of pretty too, as is the darker mahogany. Didn't care for the lighter colors - ash and white birch.

I do have a question for those of you who have done this before. Before epoxying it all, I tried to feather the edges of the veneer strips down so they would be reasonably flush with the underlying plywood. I stopped when I saw that the sanding was changing the color and the grain of the veneer on the edges. I was surprised to see that. I thought the veneer was so thin that the color and grain would surely go through the entire depth.

So is it necessary to feather the edges? I fear that if I don't, I will get air bubbles under the glass along the edges of the veneer. Perhaps I could avoid that by brushing on a coat of clear epoxy to fill in along the edges? Would require much taping to avoid runs and more sanding.

And if I DO need to feather, how do I avoid ruining the look of the strip? If I sand from the bottom, I take off the glue along the edges. If I sand from the top, I end up with a strip that looks different in the middle and the edges. If I sand the entire strip thinner, I lose some of the rich color and grain, although maybe not enough to make a significant difference. Halp!!

Patsy