Rotten Porch Rail

 This set of porch rails came to us so that the many layers of paint could be stripped off.  Simple job right?  Well, we got the paint of (simple but not easy!)  and discovered a whole new set of problems.  Years and years of water damage left many of the joints rotten.  The paint was so thick it had actually been holding the rails together.  Without the paint, the rotten joints fell apart.

 You can see in this picture how blackened the wood had become.  We ended up needing to rout out all the worst sections and replace them with new sturdy wood splines.  A spline is a piece of wood, usually inserted on the underside of a repair, that will strengthen the wood around it.  You can see one of the splines we did,  in the picture below.

 The spline repairs were put in with epoxy which is the strongest glue we have.  The epoxy soaks into the surrounding wood and is so strong that to get the wood apart it has to be cut.  We also filled all the rotten nail holes with epoxy.  This way we cold re-assemble the piece and the nails would have something to bite into.

The porch rails were re-assembled and while they aren't particularly pretty, they are much sturdier and the repairs we performed should last a very long time.  The owner of this rain is a faux finish expert so she will be taking it home and painting it herself, using exterior quality paints and finishes.  

Imagining the Origins of an Old Bench

 We got this really neat bench in for work recently and it has really captured our imagination.  We are going to be stripping the beat up paint off of it, so it is not the work we are doing that has our imaginations going, but it is the interesting details which peak our curiosity.

It has been in our client's family for many generations so we have a rough estimate as to it's age.  There is plenty of speculation about where the bench came from but the current theory is that it was probably a 'salvation army' pulpit seat.  The shield was probably not always blue, and the carving was likely added later on.

The style of the bench is quintessential 'early american' with it's rustic lines and home made appearance.  And with it's tall back, it does make sense that it would be up at the front of a church for the preacher to sit on, rather then a low back that the congregation would use.  At some point it was likely taken home and the inscription was added.

Of course all of this is just theory, guesses, based on the little information we have.  But that is probably part of why our imaginations have gone wild.  We have just enough information to speculate, but not enough to know for sure.   Do you have any guesses about this bench's origins?  We would love to hear them!  Leave us a comment below!

Emptying our Strip Tanks for New Solutions

We like to provide the best possible service to our clients, and as part of that effort, we regularly replace the liquid in the stripping tanks.  This helps us keep the wood we strip as bright as possible.

Since we are 're-modeling' our stripping area,  we decided this would be a good time to empty out or tanks, re-coat the insides, and then re-fill them with new solution.  Here you can see the neutralizing  tank being pumped out into a large tote.  We will also empty out our caustic 'detergent' tank and our water recycling system.  We will also package up all of our 'stripping sludge'.   To keep our company as environmentally compliant as we possibly can,  every safety measure will be used to ensure that nothing potentially harmful is let out,  including the steps of incinerating the used solutions, and burying what remains 200 feet deep in a disposal facility.

Once all of these steps are taken,  our entire system will be fresh and ready for the new, even more healthy water based stripping system to come in.  We are so excited to begin using it in a few weeks.  It has worked very well on all of our test pieces and some of our employees have even remarked that it smells like watermelon!  That will be a nice change from the old egg smell we have been living with for some time!

Wood Stripping Art

Wood Stripping Art, a set on Flickr.

I have been putting together an album of photos called 'Wood Stripping Art' on flickr and facebook. Ok, so I know i am probably pretty 'out there' with this idea, but it seems to me that sometimes the patterns that appear when wood is being stripped look like art. Check it out and tell me, what do you think?

Beautiful Cedar hiding under Paint

At first I did not recognize this beautiful cedar chest.  I was walking through the shop the other day, and saw this trunk and thought to myself 'huh, I wonder where that 3rd cedar chest came from',  Then all of a sudden it hit me,  This beautiful chest, with the wonderful smelling cedar and the many knots in the wood had once been covered in paint! I am so excited now to see the look on the owner of this chest's face when she sees it, all stripped and sanded and pretty.  Looking at the 'before' picture below, I wonder why anyone paints such beautiful wood.  I know there is a time and place for painted wood,  such as, when there has been burn damage, or when the wood itself in completely unremarkable and boring.  But with beautiful wood like this, I think it should  never be covered in paint.  Of course, that is just my opinion.  You are entitled to think whatever you want.  Perhaps you should tell me in the comments below, just what you think of painted wood like this.

Overcoming the Power of an Old Berry Stain

We have a few pieces in, from different customers, which offer us a unique challenge.  These pieces came in to be stripped of their old finish, and have a new finish applied.  All of  these items went through the stripping process, after which we discovered that part of the original staining work would linger.  You see, these pieces were colored with a dye, that could not be removed in stripping.

This dye is a Berry based stain and penetrates the wood fibers to permanently color them, as opposed to a pigment color, which we would use, that sits on top of the wood.  You can find this dye used in old furniture as well as modern, so we never know when it will pop up.

 Sometimes this kind of dye is used on a lighter colored wood, such as Poplar to make it match, say a Mahogany wood, then a pigment stain can be applied over both, and it will look like they are the same kind of wood.

In the case of this Piano Stool, we were able to remove some of the color during the prep sanding process, which left the red in the crevices.  Instead of letting this be a problem, we used the red as a natural 'highlighting', to give the stool some extra character.  Then we used a medium Cherry dye which helped to even the color out without making the stool to dark.  Of course the stool has our super earth friendly Water Based Finish over all of that!

How do you think the stool looks?  Have you ever had to deal with a dye stain like this?  If so, what did you end up doing with the new  finish?  We would love to hear, in the comments below.

Mammoth Sized Furniture Stripping Job

We recently got a very big order of stripping in here at the shop. An unfortunate Victorian Home in downtown Sacramento was damaged in a house fire.  The owners and the subcontractor they hired to help them fix it back up have decided to try and salvage as much of the original woodwork as possible.

The subcontractor removed all of the wood paneling and trim from the house and brought it to us to strip. There is Smoke and water damage on most of the pieces, and when you walk by you can smell it!  The woodwork is all wrapped up in batches and  marked so that when they try and put it all back into the house, they don't have as much of a puzzle on their hands as far as where each piece goes.  We began by stripping the doors.  You can see in the picture to the side all the smoke and water marks.  These old houses have many layers of paint which can make the job harder.   Fortunately we have a powerful striping system to take care of business.

We are always interested in better ways to do our job while still being gentle with the environment.  That is part of the reason we are so enthusiastic about the water based finishes we have been using for years.  They work very well, give a beautiful color, and are safe to use.  We have just heard about a new water based furniture stripper and of course had to try it right away.  Below you can see the stripper eating away at the paint on those doors.  While we have asked the manufacturer for a few tweaks, we are  very excited to start using this new product on a regular basis, hopefully within the next few months.  Hooray, finally a furniture stripper that fits into our vision of high performance and health!