[WillemJM]

Took some pics yesterday from pieces in a Museum in Hamburg Germany and it made me think. Pics below.

The old pieces and especially those with veneer show lots of cracks and warping, I wonder if the pieces we build with more advanced materials and wood movement precautions will behave the same over a few centuries?

I have pieces that my father built in the 50's they are still perfect after travelling the oceans a few times. Also no defects yet in my own work.





Any ideas about the bent handle on the axe???



Long forgotten:

 

[HowardAcheson]

I would guess that those veneers are affixed to a solid wood substrate. I doubt that they had much true plywood or MDF. It's the substrate that is moving primarily and causing damage to the veneers. You can see that the builder made attempts to align the grain of the veneer with the grain of the substrate in many areas. That's the reason for the small 1" pieces of veneer. The veneers appear to be relatively thick therefor there would be no "stretch" as as we would get from today's thinner veneers.

I would think that using some of today's materials would pretty much eliminate most of the damage.