Harewood

John Kjelland's experience with harewood leads me to believe that
the wood he had to match was not the dyed English Sycamore, but
another wood also called harewood, San Domingo Satinwood.  According
to "The Complete Dictionary of Wood", 1979 (ISBN 0-88029-318-7),
that yellow wood seasons to silver grey. One wood catalog from the
1950's stated that the English Harewood was an imitation of the
seasoned Satinwood, although the grains of the two woods are
different.

I had a project a few years ago where the existing Gray English
harewood paneling in a building lobby had faded to brown and had
then been buried under wallpapers, plasters, and other construction.
The original color of the paneling had been described in photo
captions in advertising brochures from the 1930's.  Because of the
building's experience with the English harewood, they decided not to
use the traditional product when the lobby was restored.  The San
Domingo satinwood is no longer available, so English Sycamore toned
with aniline dyes in the lacquer coat was decided upon.  When the
dye color fades, the lacquer can either be stripped or recoated,
depending on how the color degrades.

Dean Koga
Building Conservation Associates
902 Broadway - Suite 1601
New York, New York 10012

                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 12:30
                Distributed: Friday, September 25, 1998
                       Message Id: cdl-12-30-001
                                  ***