Some of what Piano work entails...

This is what I have been doing for the last week. The first two raw pictures of the grand lid were taken in the house at Gerrards Cross.
By last Saturday and facing yet more hours of fruitless labour with all the incredible water damage, and rippled thick veneer that had probably been in that state for years and hardened terribly....I was just about ready to give up.
But I was able to devise fresh techniques for bringing the lid back to being flat again.
I restuck the veneer that didn't have enough original glue left using that traditional bone glue you heat in what looks like a cauldron.
Then I began again from scratch staining the veneer black, in order to then build up the polish again with black stained shellac french polish.
This is the traditional furniture finish which allows the wood to breathe and brings up wood grain when it isn't stained matt black.
It is however very susceptible to water damage which is how the problem occurred. These pics and more of my work life can be seen on Piano-s in Facebook, and my website www.piano-s.com