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The ebony for the armrest is 2.4 mm thick. It starts oversized and is initially bent at about a 20 degree angle across the lower bout of my side bending machine. Then it's bent by hand to a perfect match on a bending iron. After French polishing the top in the area, the armrest is taped into place. Starting at one end of the armrest, I drill a hole through the rest and into (but not all the way through) the upper lining. I tap in a dowel, and continue the process to other end of the armrest so that it ends up in a secure, dry fit. Then I take it apart and glue with T88 epoxy and trim the dowels and armrest.
To hide the pins, I considered overlaying with a veneer but realized with the jet black ebony that a veneer would be unnecessary. Instead I drilled a very shallow dimple in the end of each dowel, stained the dowel with LMI fingerboard dye for good measure, and filled the dimple with dry dye mixed with Z-Poxy. The result was a perfect match that is undectable after French polishing. The case would be trickier had the armrest been made with anything other than ebony (such as rosewood that has obvious grain), but I suspect that a well-matched shaving in the dimple would do the trick. If others make this type of armrest, I'll be eager to hear what solutions and improvements you come up with.
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