The decorative veneers that we use at LCC are to the standard selected by furniture makers for their finest pieces, literally their "master pieces" - and with good reaason

Whether from Walnut, burr oak or bird's eye maple, the natural delicacy of colours and patterning is brought out and enhanced by the processes which bring the veneers from the forest to the interior of your car. Shaped gently to the surfaces of your interior, both curved and flat, the natural veneers are not subjected to bleaching or artificial colouring (unless you request it!). Neither are they bent round a plastic substrate, glued together at high temperatures and then painted over to achieve a crude parody of the beauty of the living wood.

Birds Eye Maple Veneer

Our craft apprenticeships taught us to respect that beauty, to ensure that the veneers (obtained from well managed, sustainable resources) retain their natural patterning and rich colour beneath the lacquer applied as a protective finish against the ravages of heat, light and damp. Consistency is assured because each job we undertake is completed from one single source of veneer - and moreover, matching sections are selected for use on either side of the interior, thus achieving a "mirrored" effect, normally from thr centre line of the dashboard.

It follows that the original source of the veneer, the burl (which literally means "knot"), must provide the most pleasing of natural, tightly scrolled pattern and must above all be free of blemishes, for nothing will be disguised. Great skill and experience are needed to select from thousands of acres of trees those most likely to yield the best patterning and colour. In the case of walnut, only trees that are past their nut-producing years will be used, which means they can be anything from 60 to 100 years old and can weigh up to 1500 lbs. A typical price for a good burl is about £6,500 / $10,000 - but a really exceptional one can cost up to $50,000.

American Burr Walnut Veneer

During the initial production processes, in factories close to the forests, the freshly dug burls are "simmered" in water for a week or more at different temperatures until the most pleasing colour is obtained. Then the bark is stripped, the wood cleaned and the entire burl fitted onto a special lathe. We need to be certain that the separate pieces of veneer we will ultimately use are individually flawless and will mirror each other perfectly. The length of the slices, where the cutting of each one begins and ends, needs careful consideration as the huge "logs" are first mounted on spindles and then rotated against sharp blades on the lathe.

Once the veneer is cut into wafer-thin slices, a mere 0.6mm thick, it is steamed for anything between 24 hours and a week. Gradually, almost magically, more colour starts to emerge. At first it is a curious green, but later, as experts monitor progress every few hours, rich, orangey browns come to predominate.

Straight Grain Sapp Walnut Veneer

Sheets of matured veneer are set aside in batches for further scrutiny an selection. Perhaps only one percent of total production from a burl will be of sufficiently high quality for LCC to use. The best veneer is found on the outside of the burl; the deeper the slice, the plainer (and therefore less pleasing) the patterning. At LCC we demand the biggest and the best sheets, the cleanest and the most consistent patterns - and we get them.

We use other woods besides burr walnut - burr oak, for example, or bird's eye maple (where the naturally pale and creamy colour can be readily stained in subtle reds and greys and blues), but burr walnut is the most frequently requested veneer, with its great depth and variety of colours and natural patterning. Striaght grained walnut is used for graceful crossbanding. Boxwood is selected for contrasting inlays.

Straight Grain Sapp Walnut Veneer - Stained

The reveneering or restoration of your woodwork, each section carefully positioned for its mirrored effect with its opposite partner, cannot be rushed. When all is perfect, we apply the protective lacquering to your woodwork and then polish it to a high gloss with wax-impregnated compounds applied by a linen cloth on a buffing machine. The result is a positively glasslike finish, through which glows the natural, carefully nurtured beauty of fine wood.