A Perennial Charmer

Here's a handsome piece we see often. These aromatic cedar chests are so readily displayable and they are so practical as well. This one, manufactured in the early 1940s, is really in excellent condition. Yes, it needs some attention to it's mahogany finish and had lost some tiny pieces of veneer, but the chest's air seal is intact, it's under the case drawer is in great shape and slides smoothly, and it's internal shelf and linkage are in great working condition. That's a lot more than we can say for many of us after 70 years of hanging around. Ha.

Our customer asked us to put some legs on this little charmer. So what you see in the picture is what we did. It gave her a nice three inch lift...some fun high heels!

We gently stripped and cleaned this little beauty. It's got a lacquer seal coat and two coats of gloss finish lacquer...gently nibbed and then buffed. She wants to go home; a real serious case of home sickness!

That's Wood Talkin for today. Listen, listen, listen!

Dick

An Institutional Rocker?

Here's maybe a curious story....and maybe you can clarify a detail our two?

A special customer belongs to this fascinating solid mapel rocker. It has a fold-down portion that lifts to make a half-table on one side. I suspect this hand-made beauty may have been built in an institutional shop, like a hospital or turn-of-the-century Sanitorium. As you can see, both the back and it's seat are canned in a Herringbone pattern.

Our customer called us to repair a broken dowel in the frame of the caned seat. But what appeared to be a reasonably doable repair....replacing the dowel...was quickly complicated by the tightness of the cane woven seat. It means that the seat must be cut away to accommodate the new dowel, then the cane can be replaced. So, that's where we're at right now,  we're caning the seat having replaced the dowel and resetting and gluing the joints. It'll soon be good as new.

That's Wood Talkin for today....do you listen to your furniture?