It's Twisted!

Here's a gem from top to bottom and from beginning to end.
Our customers recently experienced some disappointing and painful surprises. Aargh! (Life bites! sometimes, huh.) So the family decided to have this fine custom-built maple table redone to serve some critical upcoming family gathering plans---and hopefully before the up and coming Christmas holidays!  

The top of this beauty is just shy of 72 inches in diameter, so it's both big AND beautiful. Just take a long look at that pedestal base (below)! It's "twisted" 90 degrees from bottom to top.  Is that cool or what?!

The base's four-inch circular twists (below), a total of eight, really help distinguish this piece. The size of the top on that stunning  base and the visual depth we anticipate in the top's maple grain will really make it visually exquisite when all the work is done. 

I'm showing it to you in pieces here simply because we couldn't put the top on it's base in the shop. It occupied a third of the shop for almost two weeks, so we had to schedule it into our work accordingly.


In keeping with the home's decor we were asked to try matching the table to the color of their home's floors (above left). That process took some trial and error (and some back-and-forth), but I think you'll agree the effort was successful.  You can see a piece of the hickory floor we "borrowed" to help us approach a color match on the table's top and base.

 

Here are a couple pictures of the base and the top respectively. I'll acquire and publish a picture of the table in the family home and all together in a future blog. God willing our customer will move back into their newly refurbished home before Christmas. In the meantime these two pics will have to do.

That's Wood Talkin for today, but keep listening...because wood has a voice of its own.

Dick

175 Years of Sophistication and Beauty

This beauty came into the Wood Talkin shop last week. Our customer's goal is to enhance her finish, so we engaged some careful discussion around what that meant to her, the impact of any effort on the value of this fine piece of art, and our customer's long-term plans for this piece.

Everything about this old beauty says "art." From her drawers' hand-scribed dovetail joints, autographed frame, deeply worn drawer slides, square hand-forged nails, cast iron and porcelain castors, rough sawn internal and back-closure pieces...we conclude that she is pre-1840, and probably 1820-1830.

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This was a square weight bearing side of the drawer slide worn convex through 175 years!

Four (count them!) hand scribed and then cut dovetail joints on each drawer. Can you see the scribe marks?

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

At the Door...

New arrivals this past week or so include...
Four wonderful antique red oak dining chairs and a wonderful antique red oak library table. Yes, these have their own stories to tell, and yes, a great part of their stories is in the obvious scars they have to show for the tales.

So, we'll be back...and keep listening.

A QUESTION OF IDENTITY

Quite occasionally we get a piece that has no identification. (It's sorta like you or I getting stopped for a traffic violation and not having a drivers license or proof of insurance.) No, I'm not arresting or citing anyone for bringing a piece in the door that has no manufacturer's identifying marks, but I'm always wondering...wondering. "Who put this piece together?"

Recently these pieces (covered, right) arrived in the shop. They are very obviously well made and very upscale in the quality of their finish. So it's always nice to put a "name on the face" so to speak. The tops of these two bedside tables needed to be refinished; several other areas on each piece had suffered similar damage. The lacquer finish is still very much alive, suggesting they were manufactured within the past 10 years or so.

These two came with a similarly finished Sleigh Bed designed headboard and matching foot-board. Their top horizontal rails (not yet pictured) are being stripped and refinished to remove several scars and dents and then the vertical posts will be be touched-up. These will be followed into the shop by two standing dressers. They complete the set. Their arrival in the shop is anticipated just as soon as these items are completed and deliverable--ready to trade them places.

Sometimes the wood doesn't say as much as we'd like it to. Hmmm, some people are that way too, huh.

That's Wood Talkin for today.

Dick

They say they want to go home!

This furniture manufactured by Henredon in North Carolina is really attractive stuff. Much appreciation to their Customer Service people for the help they were able to offer. So, two days in the application of the finish coats (i.e., repeated spraying, curing and sanding) we're ready for the last step--buffing them out. Does anything really feel better than success?!

Love Seat to LOVE SEAT

It was just a little pew. It's made of Douglas Fir and was originally painted in gray and tan tones. It was actually one of those fabled "front row seats" in a 1900's vintage Baptist church on the West Coast. Its original space was shared in the company of a sanctuary full of longer pew "brothers and sisters." When the church was remodeled the majority of those "family" members became fuel for parishioner's fire places. But this one was small and comparatively portable, so it was happily carted away to become a storied piece in someone's home. After all, what's a self-respecting Baptist piece of furniture to do without a historical pedigree?

But I understand there's a little bit more to this story. Word has it that IF a young couple sat on this pew up front there in the church they were indeed up front, but they were also together all by themselves--sort of an unofficial "in the church" place for love birds to be all alone up front. It worked; it was a well-used church "Love Seat." So, when this little pew was eventually transported to someone's home it went from being an unofficial Love Seat to becoming the homeowner's official "LOVE SEAT." Kind of fun, huh. (The leather and padding has been graciously added!)

Removing Moisture (or heat) "Rings" From A Lacquered Top

It's frustrating when you put a glass or coffee cup down on a finished surface and later you observe it left a cloudy circle in the finish. It's a cloudy unmistakable ring where the glass or cup of coffee sat on your shiny table top, side board, coffee table, etc. Ugh. Here's a "miraculous" little tip I learned years ago that can make these unwanted signatures go away.

Next time you are at WalMart, your pharmacy, or perhaps a Home Depot (or some similar place) ask for a little bottle containing Spirits of Camphor. (The Camphor is going to soften the lacquered surface of your furniture. The idea here is that you can release the trapped moisture in the lacquer by softening it just enough to allow the moisture to dissolve in the camphor, adhere to the cloth, and escape. You want to apply just enough Camphor to soften the surface--but not so much that you remove it.) So, take your little acquisition home and patiently perform the following little exercise.

1. Get a small piece of cotton cloth. A little piece cut from, for example, an old undershirt will work just fine. You want just enough cloth so you can hold it in your hand and fold it twice--two thicknesses of the cloth--around and between your index and third finger.
2. Standing over the ring you want to remove, pretend your index finger, with the little cloth you have wrapped around it, is a little biplane with pontoons for water landings. The cloth is it's landing gear (the pontoons). Make a practice pass over the table and the ring with your covered finger--do this as if you're a pilot inspecting an anticipated landing site, the ring, in preparation for your next fly-over. You're going to land on one edge of that ring, slide along its curvature for a little distance, and then lift from it again.
   
3. With your next "air approach" drop down so you finger (pontoon) touches on the curvature of the ring. Slide across the ring as far as you can, staying on the ring's curvature with your cloth "pontoon," then quickly lift again from the ring...a probably short but smooth "touch and glide distance..." and then back up (maybe an inch or two slide depending on the size of your ring). Try this several times until you've got a feel for it--a smooth "in-down-slide across- then up and away" movement. Practice it several times.
4. Now when you think you've got the moves, take the lid from your Spirits of Camphor and wet the "pontoon" of your little make believe biplane. The cloth should be wet enough--but not dripping--so you can make a clean damp sweep across the ring's edge. Do this repeatedly landing on one part of the ring, applying just a little pressure, and then back up (8-10 slides without re-wetting). Do this rapidly and repeatedly watching as the ring begins to fade. Be patient and methodical. Continue landing, sliding, and up until that part of the ring completely disappears.
5. Continue this effort gradually moving around the ring until it's all GONE.

What should you expect? Where you removed the ring may take a slightly flatter sheen than the surrounding area. That's not unusual, especially in an older lacquered surface. But that shiny patina is generally a lot less noticeable than the ring you just removed. In newer surfaces, and when the Camphor has completely evaporated, you can often briskly buff the sheen back up with a soft cotton cloth.

Anyway, this little experience is fun...and just a little surprising.

Just around the bend...

OK. You're reminding me...as if I needed to be reminded...that your oak veneers, top and skirt, are laminated to a Masonite-type foundation. It's really not a big deal except for the fact that when the finish edge is removed in the stripping and/or sanding process any "looks like grain" goes bye-bye, too.

Looking across your "skinned" top are a lot of "feathers" in the wood grain. They're typically produced in a muscular sanding effort. The combination of feathers and foundation material make for some cooperative investments--by you and me. A little TLC in the final coat (a little creative tickling here and there) along with the buffing process usually does the trick...and walla!

Opening and shutting the table top is a pleasant surprise. My compliments! You've got a "top-O-the-line" mechanism that makes removing and inserting the leaf comparatively easy--you purr like a kitten. I'd like to see that design in every top I work on, certainly wishful thinking on my part...but I can dream a little.

The perimeter's edge is sealed and finished. It makes a visually comfortable transition from the top to the skirt both in form and color. That's a good thing given the near boo boo we experienced earlier in the staining process.

The top has a first coat of polyurethane. Those "feathers" have flattened, for the most part. If we work together we can smooth the bulk of the resistors with the top coat effort tomorrow. Tonight is about curing in a warm shop. We're rounding the bend toward completion.

Jim & Kathi's Pedestal Dining Table

We carried you into the shop last Saturday morning. I know you must have felt a little awkward in that moment...introductions and all that stuff. You had no legs; your pedestal got left behind with the chairs that grace your skirt! So it was your handsome round top, including your generous 24 inch leaf.

Yah, I understand. No self-respecting middle aged dining table want's to be out and about without make-up! That was hastily brought for you in a plastic bag. Jim explained how your finished surfaces had been skinned, your naked wood exposed, in preparation for an extensive facial. (Yes, I know it was a cold morning's drive to the shop...sorry about that; from a warm basement, a project shelved, hastily carried up and outside, but kindly transported here for completion.)

I concede; you weren't in your best form. But hey, don't be bashful! It's OK. FYI, last month we proudly and compassionately resurrected a vintage early 1900's rocking chair. It's handsome features had been repeatedly painted through many years before it fell into disuse. In fact it escaped a house fire once! Nevertheless, eventually pulled apart and stuffed into an apple box it waited 40 years! It suffered some indignities, too, but hubba, hubba, you should see it now. So take heart!

What's that you say? OK, you're right. We almost made a boo booh. That bag of cosmetic stain we carried in was way too dark for your delicate features. So although you're covered with tape and newsprint now (--you don't want that over spray where the sun's gonna shine! --) you're already fetching your share of compliments!

I know you've got a lot more to say, but let's save our shared experiences for next time.