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.