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?

Art Deco

This pretty little Art Deco vanity came to us with a matching vanity chair, bed headboard and footboard and a five drawer dresser. It's a really fun set. Our customer acquired these to offer her friends a guest room adventure when they come to her home for an overnight stay.

The set turned out really well. Among some other things it was "heard" to say, "It's so wonderful to look young again." Yes, they are so impressive when one enters that room for the very first time. I'll offer a picture of the entire set in a upcoming post.
That's Wood Talkin for tonight.

Where are the handles? I apologize that we did not get them into this picture. They were later cleaned and re-secured onto the drawer fronts. Manufactured in the 1930-40's, they were thin brass and plastic. Yes, plastic! At that time plastics were relatively fresh on the manufacturing scene; the latest thing. These were a streaming purple-ish color framed in yellow brass frames on each drawer. They really accented this little vanity---they made it POP!

Check out that wonderful, original, decorative tape. It's thematic throughout the set...on each piece!

Update: Lane and Boudoire

Well.... are these beauties or what? Take a look at them now. For the table, we fabricated a new drawer, a perimeter decorum strip, and a new brace system for those beautiful legs. She struts; a beautiful lady with a fresh new look....and a new lease on life. Can you say, CONFIDENCE?

The Lane chest glows with a new pride and fresh enthusiasm. We sensitively refreshed her exterior with lacquer, touched up her bumps and besides, filled in some lost veneer, and repaired the chest's withdrawing shelf and lid. Ahhh...smell that wonderful cedar aroma---unmistakable. She's good to go for another 70 years!
"Listen to the wood"...it's our favorite phrase. 

That's Wood Talkin for today. Do you listen?
Dick

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!