Here's where you come to follow the progress of your piece of furniture in the shop. No, wood doesn't talk--or does it? Sure it does! As we work on your piece we learn things about where it's been, how it's been used, maybe even who (or what) has used it, and often about where it came from originally. It's a lot of fun and typically quite interesting.

This space also gives us a chance to let you know about any special experiences or progress related challenges. We try to chronicle work completed on your furniture whenever anything significant occurs. So there may not be an entry every day, but when we document them, we hope you will find these journal entries are fun, informative, purposeful, and creative.

So, have fun "listening" to our dialogue with your piece, as it is, it's Wood Talkin.
Email: woodtalkin@gmail.com

Monday, July 28, 2014

Torn from the house wall!

 Here's a fun story. This little cabinet was pulled from the wall of his grandparents' 1880's home in Princeton, N.J....before it was demolished to make room for a parking lot. Our customer has several of these. This one is the smallest. Leaded glass lights and solid oak frame distinguish this little gem. You're seeing our nearly finished effort here (left, ...still oiling its top).


But it didn't look exactly like this when he brought it to the shop. It needed some work. A wall cabinet--one crafted to be built-in--is not completed as a stand alone cabinet. So there were some important parts that were missing when it was pulled away from the wall and carted off. 

Our job was to clean it up and make it "stand alone." So we needed to add some pieces to the top, re-align and glue the sides of the cabinet, re-configure the trim, and create internal structures in the base to accommodate a new drawer. Then, our goal was to try to  color-match the new pieces--as best we could given the cabinet is 134 years old! We want to "match" the seasoned pieces and genarally touch-up the entire case. That effort was completed with some stain and multiple coats of hard oil.The goal was about practicality and historical integrity, not necessarily contemporary perfection.


Well, it's quite handsome don't you think. It has turned out really good. A very attractive stand-alone oak cabinet from the 1800's. Listen to it quietly mumbling to itself; busting with pride at it's new lease on an old life promise.

OK, then. That's Wood Talkin for today. Keep listening.

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