Restoration of A 1900's Armoire

 We are moving along on the restoration work of an 1900's French Armoire.  I don't know if you can understand the scale from the photo above, but is is a very large, tall, impressive piece of furniture.  Unfortunately someone left it stored where it sat in water and the intricate veneer work became damaged as you can see in the two following pictures.  These photos capture just a small percentage of the really quite extensive veneer damage.

 Any veneer that has turned grey and lifted away from the base wood, has been damaged by the water.  It turns brittle, discolored and has to be completely replaced.  Because of all the precise angles at which the veneer was originally cut,  this made our repair job much more difficult.  We had to exactly match the original cuts and angles, any error and it would stand out like a big reg sign.

 Besides all the veneer that had to be repaired,  some of the doors and panels were warped or swelled, because of the water damage.  In some cases we needed to plane the edges down to fit into their frames,  in other cases such as in the photo to the left, we had to re-soak the wood and clamp it down as it dried, so that it would dry flat.   We also had to completely replace the veneer on the doors which was lengthy work.

Now that the repairs are just about completed, it is time to move on to the next phase.  The entire piece has to be prep sanded, stained and finished.  Our client is coming in this weekend to choose her stain color and I am looking forward to seeing what she decides to go with.

Eastlake Chair Overhaul

This gorgeous, and very old Eastlake style arm chair suffered an unfortunate accident when it came loose of it's strappings and fell off of a truck.    It experienced a 'slip and slide'.  Slip off the truck and Slide on the road.   The chair obviously needed some hospital time so it came to us for care.  After doing a thorough evaluation and consultation with the chair's owner, a plan of action was decided upon.   One option was to completely restore it to it's original condition.  This would have required extensive repairs to the entire back section as well as the legs and arms.  This would have been a big job and pretty pricy.  So it was the second option that we are going to complete.

Since the back is so badly broken, both aesthetically and structurally, we removed the back all the way down to the lower rail which was still strong.  The next step was to repair the broken areas just behind the arms where the wood had been broken off by the pavement.  We were able to re-pupose wood from the top rail of the chair (which we removed), to fill in these broken areas.  Once the epoxy glue on that repair was set and dry, the wood could be shaped to match the surrounding area.  You can see this repair in the photo below.

We also needed to replace the wood on one of the legs, which had been completely destroyed by the fall.   To repair this area, we had to use a new piece of walnut, rather than a re-purposed piece, as it was quite a big chunk that was missing.    For the leg repair,  we again epoxied on the new wood, and clamped it into place.  Once it is set and dried we will shape the piece of wood to match the other back leg.  You can see this repair in the picture below.

 We still have a lot of work to do on this chair.  Hopefully when it is done it will look just as beautiful as it did originally.  Although now it will have a new adventure attached to it's history.   The time it went for a slip and slide and ended up which a whole new look.

Antique Mirror Frame Gets A New Life

 This lovely old mirror frame has quite a history.  Our customer told us a story of growing up on a farm in the mid-west 75 years ago.  This mirror hung on the back porch where the field hands would come in for their lunch break.  Before they went inside

 to eat they would wash their face and hands and then check their appearance in this mirror.  It is hard to imagine such a lovely mirror hanging on the outside porch, but apparently it was already old at the time so the new 'nice' mirrors were inside!

When we took over the care of this mirror, there were little bits of decoration missing all over the frame.   Petals had disappeared and banding was broken off.      We began our work by filling in those missing pieces with a putty like material.  Once the material hardened, our craftsman carved it to match the rest of the frame.

The final step in the process was to hand paint all of the new areas so that the repairs disappeared.  This is work for an artist, and fortunately, we have an artist here at the shop.  He was able to disguise the repaired areas,  but still retain the old worn appearance of the frame.   The original glass mirror was then put back into its frame, and our customer came and picked it up.  She was delighted with the work.   That makes us just so happy.  The frame she grew up with was back in good repair,  looking beautiful, but still had evidence of the many years it had graced her home.  We call that a successful job.

Second Life of a Lamp Table

This table has been a little pet project of mine, and I am so glad to finally have it finished.  It kept being put off, as there  were more important things to work on.  It came into our shop about 12 years ago and the customer decided not to have the work done and abandoned it.  After eyeing it for  years, I finally decided it was (potentially) to beautiful to sit lonely on our shelves any longer.  It needed a lot of work.  The first thing we did was strip it so any remaining finish or accumulated junk was gone.  I then completely dis-assembled it, sanded it with 120 and 180 and then it was ready for repairs. The old top was so badly warped that I ended up cutting a new one instead of trying to fix the old.  I was able to keep the raised edge pieces, but all the corners had to be cleaned up.

The new top received a redwood burl veneer treatment with a band of walnut around the outside edge.  Once the table was re-assebled,  we attached new beading around the top edge, as the old had pretty much disintegrated.  So there is old beading on the legs and the bottom edge, and new beading on the top.  Not ideal, but there was no other way.

For a stain I chose to use a 'natural' (or clear) stain on the redwood/walnut top and a teak stain on the rest.  This helped to balance out the color between the 3 different kinds of woods.  The color is really beautiful and vibrant.  The burl veneer needed a pore fill treatment to smooth it out a bit and fill in the voids, and that treatment actually helped to bring the grain out even further, which is of course a plus!  The beading is highlighted with a Van Dyke brown glaze and a water based Semi-Gloss finish was applied overall.   The table looks gorgeous, I am so pleased with how it turned out.  Now instead of sitting lonely and broken on a shelf it can stand proudly in the finest living room.

Final Look at a Repaired Marquetry Table

 This table came to us some time ago in desperate need of some veneer expertise.  It is a 'home made' table, which makes the original work quite remarkable!  Unfortunately the glue just didn't stand the test of time, and there were pieces of veneer peeling up and breaking off all over the place.  We began our work by stripping the table, which revealed the true nature of how much work was needed.  You can see the work needed, in the top photo.  We were able  to salvage many of the pieces that had peeled or broken off, and re-glue them into place.  But for the rest of the damage, we had to try and find a matching veneer and make patches.  This turned out to be a true challenge.  Much of  the veneer on this table is rare or obscure, so that made it hard to find replacements.  In addition, when we did find the correct replacement veneer,  the older pieces had often darkened with age, so the patches were still visible.  The wood grain matched, but the depth of color did not.  This meant we had to use subtle dye techniques to bring the new wood to the same tone as the old.  We also had to employ some expert touchup techniques where the old veneer had tiny little chips, or the seams between veneers were no longer as crisp as they once were.

Once the tricky veneer work was completed, and all the necessary touchup and dye was done, we moved on to replacing the finish.  We applied a shellac as that was the original finish. To replicate the color we used 4 coats,  2 of orange shellac and 2 of super blonde shellac.  The table looks fantastic. The colors of the veneers are vibrant and have depth.  It is once again a masterpiece that can proudly grace the living room of the original maker's family and descendants.

To see more photos of the work on this table check out our Flickr Page here...   Dodecagon Marquetry Table

Antique Veneered Chair Set

We are just beginning work on this beautiful 'his and hers' set of chairs.  This old set is made of walnut which has gained a lovely hue as it has aged.  They came in to us with two different stain colors and now that they are stripped, we can see some interesting information about the set.  

You can see in the second picture an image of the side rail of the arm chair.  The upholstery attaches to the upper section of the rail, and the lower section is exposed.  We can tell that this set was made in Europe because they implemented a practice that was never done in the United States.  While the entire chair was made of solid walnut, the rails around the chair were made with a 'cheep' wood and then covered in a walnut veneer.    They did this to save in cost, but here in the US, that was always way to much hassle.  If it had been made here, it would have been all solid wood and no extra step of veneer.

The veneer on this chair has been damaged, and part of our repair process will be to either replace the veneer or do some color touch up to make the damage blend with the rest of the piece.  Be sure to check back often as work on this beautiful set continues.

Duncan Phyfe, An Old Design, with a Built-In Flaw

 The Duncan Phyfe table design is a beautiful, graceful design that first originated about 1795.  With it's sweeping Egyptian lines,  Greek Lyre Motifs and graceful Urn Pedestals,  the style perfectly accentuated the era's interest in all things ancient.  The style died out about 1830 and was nonexistent for about 100 years.  Then in about 1930 there was once again a great interest in the Duncan Phyfe design and it went through a great revival.  It is now 70 years since that revival.  Modern replicas are still being made and sold in stores today.

We often get these classically styled pieces in our shop, and usually they all come to us for the same reason.  The sweeping curved legs aren't the most sturdy design and they tend to break off just after they join with the pedestal.  We actually have two such tables with just such repairs needed, sitting in our office right now, and we have another table in our 'completed' racks that just had the same kind of repair done.

The reason this design breaks so consistently in the same area,  is that since the leg is cut into a curve,  the grain runs across it in some areas, instead of up and down.  A normal, vertical grain line is much sturdy and less likely to break.  the cross grain line of a Duncan Phyfe leg is more susceptible to pressure and can snap.

The good thing is,  we have all the tricks and tools to get these legs back together, looking as good as new, and just as sturdy,  if not more sturdy then before the break.  If you have one of these lovely pieces,  which has it's own crack or break,  bring it to us.  We would be happy to restore it to it's former glory.

The Desk that Rose From The Ashes

 This is a story about a desk, that thought it was a Phoenix.  You see, sometimes a fire destroys things, but sometimes it gives something the opportunity to be even more beautiful when it comes out, then when it goes in. Such is the case with this desk.  Time has a way of causing things to get a little shabby looking, and this desk was no exception.  But when it survived a house fire and was scorched,  it was sooooo shabby that the owner of the desk decided it was time to get it fixed up and beautiful again.  So they brought it to us and the phoenix-ifying began.  In the first picture you can see all the parts it was in when we got it.  The one pedestal was still mostly together,  and the frame for the top was together, but everything else, the drawers, the cubbies, the side panel,  were all in pieces.  The desk had to be stripped  and then sanded, giving extra attention to the scorched areas.   The owner of the desk chose a dark stain color which also helped to hide the appearance of the scorched, fire damage areas.  We also replaced the leather writing area which was gone.  The desk owner chose the color of the leather from a selection, as well as the gold embossed print around the edge.  The most important step in the process of applying the leather is prepping the surface.  We have to make sure it is as smooth and as flat as possible, any bumps will be felt through the leather's surface.

The desk looks beautiful now that it is done.  One would be hard pressed to see where the fire damage once scarred it.  It is ready  now to be taken home and given a place of distinction in it's new residence.