Update: Lane and Boudoire

Well.... are these beauties or what? Take a look at them now. For the table, we fabricated a new drawer, a perimeter decorum strip, and a new brace system for those beautiful legs. She struts; a beautiful lady with a fresh new look....and a new lease on life. Can you say, CONFIDENCE?

The Lane chest glows with a new pride and fresh enthusiasm. We sensitively refreshed her exterior with lacquer, touched up her bumps and besides, filled in some lost veneer, and repaired the chest's withdrawing shelf and lid. Ahhh...smell that wonderful cedar aroma---unmistakable. She's good to go for another 70 years!
"Listen to the wood"...it's our favorite phrase. 

That's Wood Talkin for today. Do you listen?
Dick

A Gem In the Buff

This wonderful little boudoire table is of solid oak. She has been around the block a few times, and in the process she's been robbed. Her under-the-top drawer is gone and a decorative brace that secured those elegant French Provincial legs has similarly been lost.

We'll be collaborating with our customer and see how much of this dressed down little lady we can help toward a modest rebirth....and the beauty she previously possessed.


That's Wood Talkin for now. Please keep listening.
Dick

A Lane Cedar Chest

These guys are highly collectible. When you've got all the papers and registration documents, as this one does, they are particularly special. This one belonged initially to my customer's mother. They come in variety of sizes; this is the large variety.

Aside from some routine scrapes and scratches, this chest is in great shape. It's internal shelf is secure and still properly positioned, and the linkage mechanisms for the shelf and for the chest's lid are strong and secure. Its wonderful cedar fragrance is strong and effective...70 years later!

So, what are we going to do with this? The exterior is a walnut overlay in what my customer suggests may be a a "Waterfall" design. But the color is faded and dull. (We all lose some of our shine through thre years.) So our goal us to restore the outside of the chest's case....bring back the glory! Cool.

That's Wood for now....are you listening?

Dick

Olde Men "In Waiting"

These two olde guys are probably about the age of the State of Colorado. We got them to repair because the crown rails across the back of these chairs needed repair and some stabilizing. One was broken off and the other was loose and threatening...to come off. 

Initially it appeared we would need to completely disassemble and reglue the joints of both chairs. Once we got into them and we were able to give them a closer inspection--literally from their insides out--we observed the variety of precious repairs each had endured. We also discovered that several crucial joints in each chair were still stable and strong. 

We revised our game plan. These old guys have been around the block many times; they've got a lot of stories they could tell, about 140 years worth!
Now look at them, so distinguished, these elegant Olde Gentlemen, and no longer waiting.

That's Wood Talkin for today....by all means keep listening.

Reality From a Promise

A Red Oak promise....realized!

My customer explained how she had taken a fun woodworking class. The experience had her discover a project of her choosing and she decided to design and build a little red oak table. As we all know, sometimes life just gets in our way and our plans get modified. Perhaps you can guess the rest of this story. 

She conceived and inked her plan and then she began to fabricate the little table. Well, she never was able to get it completed. So, she lovingly packed it up and moved it, and moved it....and moved it, a promising stack of red oak boards she has since carried forward into her life. But her little stack of boards kept whispering to her. 

Recently she drove bye one of our neighborhood area advertisements. She decided to inquire whether we could help her fabricate her little red oak stack of promises into the table she had long hoped to feel and embrace. 

Well, there it is! It's almost exactly as she designed it. We made a couple very simple in-process modifications to help her realize this beautiful testament to her original vision. Nice job! She'll be putting her own loving autograph on it, because she wants to finish it herself! 

Wow, I think that's a really fun little fun story.

So it's Wood Talkin for today. Keep listening, because wood really does talk!

Memories Restored

Here's a1900's little beauty.This little tray table came to us in pieces....12 of them! The only missing piece was the top surface. Our customer found this little promise at a garage sale placed in an open cardboard box. She immediately recognized it as identical to a little table she cherished from her own home as a child. It's not the same table, but one of the same design. It spoke to her heart, "Please rescue me."

She did. She bought this cardboard box of promise and brought it to us at Wood Talkin. "Can you put this back together and refinish it like it would have looked back then?" Sure thing.

So, about ten days later....here it is (through several stages of finish), now ready to go"back" home...to the love and affections of someone who will do just that, love this little table, a promise...realized again.

Ok then. That's Wood Talkin for today.....please keep listening.

An Eastern Beauty

Here's a remarkable beauty. Keep this thought in mind. This amazing piece of art is well over 200 years old! Throughout the centuries she has remained under the loving watch care of one family. For two of those centuries she was in Srilanka, then she was transported across the Atlantic, and then across the United States!

Standing nearly seven feet tall, she sits assembled in thee pieces; a foundation, base cabinet, and top cabinet. Of course she is all hand made by an artist of incredible patience working in far Eastern hard woods, e.g., mahogany and ebony. And she has seen multiple repair efforts. The evidence of those efforts, probably by family members through the years, were of course more utilitarian and well-intended in the moment than they were artistic or skilful.

All that heavy hard wood atop just four carved legs, and moved (probably uneasily shoved about), an effort punctuated by grunts and protests--both from those shoving and by the base--had left the base's joints increasingly broken and loose. So, she had gradually become a danger to be around. A timely and patient strengthening of her base was the order off the day.

As you see her here she sits poised and proud again, and back home where she belongs. She is all ready to preside in her new home where those who know, love and respect her will again, God willing, appreciate her through several more generations.

That's Wood Talkin for today. Are you listening?
Dick

More Distressed Ebony

Bottom, below...This is (was) a Stanley manufactured pine, chestnut- stained dresser. My customer explained that it was an early acquisition for she and her husband. Now, in its new polished, distressed ebony skin it promises a brand new experience. This handsome dresser is reeeeely looking forward (it told me so!) to going home.

Is this an fun adventure or what!

But then here is an entirely different experience. And these two are right here in the shop together.

My customer brought this little 1900's gem in virtual pieces. Once I got into it I began to realize it has been, may I say, the recipient of organ doners. It's top is different generation than the case and the top drawer appears to be of different side and back materials than the drawers below it. Nevertheless, she remains and is an attractive antique, for sure--albeit a bit schizophrenic?

Ok, that is WoodTalkin for today. Listen... because your furniture  has a story of its own to tell you.

CONTEMPORARY

Yes, the shop sees more than antiques. This is a good example of some fun challenges we get to face. In this case we were asked to change the look of some great furniture, Stanley
..Lane...and others.

Our customer wants an distressed ebony look...so that was the goal. Five pieces including a small wall shelf,  a pine dresser, and the legs and under-frame of a small overstuff  couch, all refinished to delight our customer.

That's Wood Talkin for today
Be listening...wood talks!

The more things change... They stay the same

If you remember those Thomasville pieces from a previous post? These are some more pieces from the same customer and the same suit off bedroom furniture. Of course the coffee table doesn't qualify as a bedroom piece.

The goal here is to match the original finish . It's a beautiful oak English Chestnut toned finish with distressed features. The very similar patterned inlay coffee table was damaged during the water cleanup and salvage process. Bummer.

That's Wood Talkin for today. Keep listening.

AARGH! They're lookin me!!

Fish eyes. In the refinishing process they occur in the approach to final finish's application. The wet surface finish is repelled by impurities (like silicone or oils imbedded in the wood). The new wet finish bunches up in little circular drops with hollow centers--kinda like the hole in the center of a doughnut. Once you see em...it's too late. Like little eyes, "They look up at you" from the surface of the piece.
Where do the impurities come from? Spills that penetrate the grain and most commonly bad ingredients in polishing products. Ugh.
What do ya do with em? Sometimes you can lightly sand and buff them toward a negligable influence. More often, however, you've got to start all over again. BUMMER.
So...yup, you guessed it. I had to strip (the top) and start over again....a slow-down imposed by Fish Eyes. And so what's next? Curing...distressing the tops... sealing...and final finish X 2. Whew, lots of work.
That's Wood Talkin for today. Have  great weekend...and keep listening.

Here we go again. Restained tops...the curing  re-starts.

Thomasville

Here are two pieces, bedside tables that were purchased by my customer in the early 1970's. Recently they were "potential" casualties when the home was insulted by a water event.

Potential? Had these two been of different quality they would probably be less than salvageable. But these guys, constructed of solid oak throughout--no presswood core material here anywhere--are in great shape for partial refinishing. And with some peripheral touch-up the overall effort will make them as handsome as they were new.

We'll also be giving some effort to re-do their tops, too. So these guys are going to return home looking,...well..., really "spiffy."

And that's Wood Talkin for today.

Wow...look at her now!

Here is the final look at this wonderful and ageless wash stand. She has been refurbished in a way that a professional from her era would have done it...and with the same tools, processes and finishes--beautiful! So, no, the finish we see here is not poly, or lacquer or anything in-between. Enjoy some sensibilities of the very late 18th and early 19th centurie......in red oak.

That's Wood Talkin for today. Keep listening....wood talks!

"Cleanliness is next to Godliness..."

Here's a fun and not to infrequent item to the Wood Talkin shop. Yup, it's a Wash Stand. These were common and often multiple in before-there-was-indoor-plumbing homes across the United States. This one was fabricated in a North Carolina shop (see the tag below). For sure, it looks a bit shabby...right now.

As with many genuine antique items that come through the door for "refinishing," there is an appropriate and necessary tension to be discussed. It defines some options, that is, (1) between stripping the cabinet to bare wood and refinishing it in 21st century contemporary finishes (like our present lacquers or polyurethanes), or, 2) utilizing refurbishing and maintenance-type methods contemporary to the piece's "birth" period. Retaining appropriate period-techniques and methods helps these Centurian-type pieces retain their very well-earned integrity and monetary value.  

Stripping and completely updating a piece can make it "fit" the decorum of today's furniture and "feel", but it may destroy some or all of its value as an antique. So, some careful and sensitive discussion around this possible dilemma is appropriate. We want everyone to get what they want: complete, personal satisfaction!

Cabinet's top surface: lots of scratches and two deep stains

The top of this turn-of-the-18th century oak wash stand and under cabinet displayed some angry stains. In some places the finish was completely destroyed--lost. But its "harp," sides, and front displayed old (perhaps crazed and dirty), but generally salvageable finish surfaces. 

Looking across the bottom of the cabinet's floor...big warp!

So, the goal of this effort was to re-do the top using period-contempory techniques, then clean and similarly refresh the cabinet's surfaces throughout. Some structural work inside the cabinet was also needed. For example, the cabinet's only drawer moved very hesitantly; and its frame was painfully fragile. The cabinet's floor was warperd, axially, nearly 30 degrees from what should have been ''flat."

Looking inside of the cabinet's drawer frame: dark walnut "overstain"

A partial back-of-cabinet sticker: manufacture's name, model, and North Carolina location!

 

As you can see, the original finisher used a dark, walnut, stain on this piece...observe it on some internal areas as "over-stain." 

OK. That's Wood Talkin for today...fun huh! Are you listening?

Centurians Signatures

Before

After

Those dignified "Centurian Gentlemen" went home more than ten days ago already. But their presence here is still sending good vibes through the shop. Come to think of it, and as a general rule, lives lived well tend to do that. They leave a warm feeling in the hearts of people privileged enough through the years to be around them.

Comparing the "before" and "after" pic, what is most noticeable is probably the slight difference in color. The cleaning process lightened them a bit--something the customer needed so they would be a better match to an antique dining room table they would join and share. Yes, most of the scrapes and scratches from years of use--and abuse--are appropriately noticeable, but the majority of the rough edges are gone. Of course it's just part of their Centurion Signature! When we work with old guys like these. making them look like young pups is an insult. And their feel to the touch is warm and smooth; they're each wearing six coats tongue oil. What you can not see or feel is the chairs new stability--their knees don't buckle anymore! They were all "rockers,"  and now they are genteel...sturdy. (Wow, don't you wish we could all insure ourselves against the "wobbles and woes" that come with time, wear, and tear!?).

Well, that's it...Wood Talkin for today. Keep listening

Millions of Thread Miles...and counting

How many million yards of thread did this little box hold through the years? It's fun to speculate. This little cherry wood box has been around for a while, probably since the 1870's or so....my guess. It walked in the door needing some TLC. It got it.

Pic taken after a little cleaning had been done

Whenever we're working with an item like this the challenge is one of not doing too much. The question: Do we want to support it's antique integrity--look like an antique and be an antique when it's finished--or does the customer want to drag it (kicking and screaming) into the contemporary age. I use that terminology because the tools and finishes and sensibilities of the 21st century are not the tools and finishes of the 18th century.

The choice was on the side of antique integrity with this little guy. So the effort of my apprenticing son, Nathan, was one characterized by cleaning, repairing existing structural pieces, re-gluing, and refreshing surfaces. No hard sanding was done on the box's existing surfaces.

Nathan then French Polished the box. It's simple...and time consuming, a technique that really cannot be used commercially today; it's just too time-demanding. In the 1700's French Polishing became a finish technique of choice, for its general beauty--rich feel, relative durability, visual depth and color. It looks really good---don't you agree; it always feels good to look so good.

It's going to go home with a new zest for life--a marvelous, mature J&P Coats 1870's Thread Box...and strutting its stuff in the 21st century!

Nice job Nate!

And that's Wood Talkin for  today....listening is always good!

What's In the Shop this Week?

Those wonderful Old Gentlemen (above)....getting closer to going home. The bases have been pulled apart, cleaned and re-glued (60 joints!). The backs are in preparation for the same effort.

An old school desk. It has been re-glued and sanded throughout. Final finish application is in process. Hurray!

A marvelous little turn-of-the-century thread box...also nearing completion. The front will be stained, then the finish surface will be prepped and completed. 
That's Wood Talkin for today....keep listening.

Broken Bones?

Well, it may look painful, but these guys are taking it all in stride. Yes, we're talking about the refurbishing effort--a re-freshening after many years of wear and tear. Somewhere in the not too distant past these chairs received some kind of similar attention, but not to the joints. There's creeky, and then there is C-R-EEEEEE-K-Y! These are the latter...with the emphasis.

The chairs' unique wire braces have significantly complicate the effort to disassemble and handle each chair's parts and pieces. Even when the top of the chair is removed from the bottom of the chair, great care must be exercised to not crimp the wires that dangle. Also, the way the wire was long ago threaded and turned through the seats and backs makes a re-threading effort impossible. Consequently, the integrity of that effort must be preserved and my effort must work meticulously around it.

At this point in the process two chairs have been disassembled. Their joins have been cleaned and prepared for the re-gluing and clamping efforts. The third guy stands patiently in line...waiting.

That['s Wood Talkin for today....but be listening....until tomorrow.

Dick

Three Stand-Up Old Gentlemen

Wow, this is a lot of fun. Meet these three fine old gentlemen--Centurions all! I'm not going to tell you where my customers found them.   Amazing.                                           
                                      

All their joints are loose. They'll be be opened, cleaned, and re-glued. Of course, if you and I could claim 130 or so years successfully bracing ourselves against time's elements, we'd need to be cleaned up and re-glued, too. Yes, there will be something of a "trick" as I carefully work with, through, and around their wire bracing. I'll keep you updated on that challenge.

Then, the plan is to sensitively rejuvenate their finish. That effort will incorporate era-sensitive techniques that, hopefully, will do great justice to them and support their integrity as Centurions--bonifide antiques. (Aren't you jealous now?) And it's been fun listening. Since their not alone--they're together--they're carrying on a conversation with one another. Cool huh. It's so nice to have friends!

OK...That's Wood Talkin for today....and in the interests of three fine old Gentlemen...please keep listening.

Gliding Through Life

 This is an 1880's era vintage Carpet Glider. Constructed of maple throughout and upholstered in a carpet-type floral fabric, it has well-weathered the challenges of many decades. It's in wonderful condition--albeit it has dried out and gathered some recent dust.

rt and lft swing brackets

It is my esteemed privilege to have it in the shop. One of the brackets that suspend the glider's under-frame had been lost; so the carriage hung limply and couldn't be reattached. It was not difficult to do it, with the appropriate hardware in hand, and its smooth gliding movement was quickly recovered. What a wonderful invention!

The difference between a glider and a platform rocker lies in the under-frame construction and movement. The glider literally swings back and forth through an arc suspended from a frame under the seat. The platform rocker, by contrast, provides a stationery frame upon which the curved treads (rockers) rock back and forth (i.e., to-and-fro). Patents for these designs were first applied for in Europe in the late 1800's. The "patent applied for" designation is clearly observable on this glider's cast iron under-seat brackets (2)--and dated 1878. My customer's grandmother purchased this little jewel in northern Europe around the turn of the 19th century. So, yes, it's the real article!

Fun huh...and that's Wood Talkin for today. Keep listening!