Wow, let me try and answer all these posts in some sequence. Brian, we are at 4045 Roxmill Court, Glenwood, MD - just 3 miles north of Sunshine on RR97 (Georgia Ave). Richard, yes that is the pair and I won't even tell you what all it took to get to this stage. Glenn, Makore has a high silica content so it dulls tools and wears out sandpaper real fast. It is brittle and will split if you hold your mouth the wrong way and it does not sand down evenly, it's as if there were soft and hard bits in the wood. Plus it seldom comes absolutely flat so as a consequence it must have pressure applied evenly all over while the glue dries. Imagine if you will the moment when you remove all the clamps only to find that one part did not go flat and is bubbled up. After sobbing softly into a tissue you suck it up and strip the sucker and try again.
Everyone, if you want something veneered here is what you do; go to the eBay home page and search on 'veneer' (without the quotes) sooner or later you will start to see offerings from Thin Woods and Old Tools (no comments), this is one of the most honest guys I know and is my sole supplier for veneers. How do you know what you need? Well if the case, cabinet, whatever is 22" long, 15" deep and 7" high then you need at a minimum a lot containing 23" long pieces and enough of them to cover the area of the case. Width is not too important as I can join narrow pieces along the grain and you will really have to look to find it. Joining across the grain- forget it!
How long will it take? Each surface must be clamped overnight - # srfaces x 24 hrs. Final sanding approx 1 day, Poly finish or Tung oil finish about 5 coats @ one coat per day. Time to spend with the gentle lady I married tends to stretch these numbers, that and the fact that I am no longer 39.
Merry Chritsmas to all, God Bless us everyone.
Rob