Heirloom TLC

People rarely part with pieces like this one. It's the stories they tell which are often about people or a person who did some significant and meaningful things that are associated with the piece. That's the stuff of Heir-looms: inherited memories encapsulated in a tangible article of furniture, clothing, etc.

This beautiful little coffee table has a temporary "Owie." As you can see the legs on one end have separated from the table's skirt; its mortise and tenon joints are severely broken. But the table has quite a story to tell. It was constructed by my customer's father in the basement of the family home 70 years ago! He reported how "Dad" made the top from the center panel of an interior door--a marvelous burled walnut specimen for sure. The legs and skirt are, in turn, salvaged and fabricated from walnut pieces he scavenged here and there. It has been fashioned with the "glue and fasteners" of love and affection, the stuff we all associate with family relationships--precious artifacts in the heart. Really though, all of us have legs that get wobbly with the wear and tear of life.

So, Wood Talkin got the chance to participate in this continuing story! Understanding its story spawns an appreciation for the esteemed privilege I have here. I carried it from my customer's home and into the shop where I soon began the rehabilitative task, and developed a working relationship with this beautiful albeit humble and "already a Grandfatherly" piece of art.

There were no huge surprises in this effort. It was the joy and modest exhilaration I experienced in cleaning and stabilizing those old joints, stiffening and supporting an old table's resolve to serve again, that made this fun! It was my privilege to discover and even stand in the shadow of a family's artisan "Dad"--his labor of love. Thanks for the privileged to participate in giving this beautiful little piece a "little push" into the future...whatever lays out there for it and for you.

...and that's Wood Talkin for today. Keep listening!

Summer seems to introduce all kinds of distractions.  I'm correcting a posting delinquency. Delightfully, the distractions (aside from some vacation time-off) are attributed to woodtalkin's busyness! That's a good thing. But it's still just a comparatively lame excuse .

The maple headboard sat cap-less for about a week while the fabrication process was taking place. Then it had to wait on a couple other pieces standing patiently and handsomely before it in the cue once I returned from vacation. The new caps were cut from a block of hard rock maple, glued, fashioned and placed atop their respective sentry posts--to which the foot board appeared to respond with a hardy, "Ahaaaa, thank you very much!" Here's the nearly finished product--stained, sealed, and with a first coat of finish.  

 

"Get back, back, and stay away doggies!!!"

This contemporary solid maple foot board walked in the door just before I headed for a vacation. Yup, it was a dog that chewed on it--it appreciated the solid maple too! The initial plan was to salvage one of the caps, the one that just had a few chews on it and fabricate the other one. Along the way we'd also strip the top rail since it had some claw indentations here and there. But once we popped off the posts' caps and discussed the plan with our customer, the plan changed to one of fabricating two new caps and refinishing that top rail. The foot board seemed to fancy the second plan too--it wanted to retain it's unwrinkled youthful appearance as long as possible. (Furniture likes to look good too!)