A Return from Ebony

Here's a fun one. As it turned out this little beauty didn't present any huge challenges. But it did offer at least a fun surprise. What you see is the way it looked the first time my customer contacted me. They texted me this pic, below. It's a darkly refinished White Oak Sideboard, probably @1910. He purchased it several years ago from an antique dealer. I suspect the dealer refinished the piece adding several contemporary touches, including the ebony patina and some hardware well outside the sensibilities of its historical character.

A natural wood look is more in keeping with my customer's present tastes, so that discussion and its mental picture guided the restoration effort. Considering the wear and tear of years, my customers also wanted what would have been the period hardware replaced on the piece. Some period brasses that were still on the piece offered us the direction we needed in purchasing replica replacement pieces, so that's what we did.


Below you see the finished product. Is that fun or what!

And as I suggested above, there were no huge surprises with this effort. However, there was this one fun little caveat.


During the restoration process the mirror was removed and stored away to permit the removal and restoration of the mirror frame. As I pulled the screw fasteners and removed the mirror I observed that a screw was missing from the hole on the back left (non-facing) side of the mirror frame. Hmmm. The question of it's removal, and for what reason, became abundantly clear later, when I replaced the mirror back into the refinished frame and then re-mounted the frame to the back of the sideboard.

Do you see those little shelves on either side of the mirror?

Those little shelves are largely supported by a single screw that extends from the back of the mirror frame and into each little shelf. When the screw from the back side of the mirror is placed appropriately to support the shelf on the left (facing side) of the mirror, the shelf tilts slightly and awkwardly up! Why? Because when the hole was initially drilled at the factory, 100 years ago, the installer--having his own BAD DAY--drilled the hole slightly high--too high for the shelf to be level with the mirror! Is that cool or what. I think that's kinda fun. We all do that stuff...it's a human sort of thing. I've provided a bigger and a little more frontal pic of the sideboard too, so you can see it as it was in the shop before the final work was completed. You can see the left shelf, yup, it's just a tad high. I think it's a feel-good observation that reminds us we're all family members of the larger human condition. So, let's cut ourselves & each other just a little slack.


That's Wood Talkin for today. Hope you have a fun week too.


Dick