Red Oak Library Table

This beautiful old Mission-styled table glows again. In keeping with it's near antique status the choice was to remove the rings from the top of the table as best we could. That was done primarily with commercial grade bleach (and a lot of patient perseverance). Then the goal was to restore continuity of color and patina to the top. Sanding a jewel like this is an effort of only the very last resort, so in this case it was kept to a bare minimum--only as needed to support that color continuity effort.

So, what you see here (below) is what you get. The dark rings are 95% gone; a mere shadow remains of their haunting "before" presence. (Of course our customer will pass final judgment on this outcome.) What you see in the pictures is finished in a fine "hard" oil then waxed and buffed to a soft patina typical of the antique world. It's a finish that is easy to maintain with the quarterly application of some good quality furniture polish (Guardsman polish is recommended). It will feed the wood and keep it from drying in Colorado's semi-arid climate.

Here's a fun observation made along the way. As the table was originally being fabricated (probably @ 1940), its drawer bottom was cut just a smidgen too small. As a result the bottom didn't fit tightly into the grooves designed to hold it. The weight of the drawer's contents then tended to warp downward. (Check out the little pic, right. See the gap!?) Wow, isn't it interesting that even back then they had an occasional "bad day." Haaa, in April, 2012, we fixed it. Super.

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