re: Top Sand Shading and Assembly

The burn goes in at the edge of the veneer and penetrates inward to produce a reasonably even shading all the way through, however it also scorches the surface and that will sand off. For that reason you have to shade what appears to be too hard knowing that the surface scorching will mostly sand off.
The side I sanded almost level was the glue side. When pressed the poplar will still stand a little proud, enough to sand down the surface scorch but not as much as you see in the above photos on the back.
You should be able to see above that the shading is less but still clearly there after the sanding. On the front the sand off will be a little less but similar.
It is a bit of a guessing game when shading to “over-shade” by just the right amount. I think I got it pretty close but won’t really know for sure until the front is sanded and finished.
Keep your fingers crossed. :-)

…… When I checked to make sure you could see the difference I realized that I had the wrong photo at the end. The one there now is the sanded one with alcohol on it. It is much better than the other one. Oops!