Unpleasant Bug Surprise

We had an unpleasant discovery while working on this Oak Dining Table.  The table top was stripped before we did any other work.   Once it was dry and we moved on to do the next repair steps we found that there was some dry rot on the underside.  -groan-   All those dark areas you see

(where the extension slides attach) are dry rot.
To deal with the dry rot we began to pull the damaged layer of veneer of the underside of the table.  All the veneer would need to be replaced instead of just the top surface as we had originally planned.  

As that veneer came off, it exposed another issue. Bug Damage!  Not good.  All that powdery stuff is the wood that has been eaten away by bugs.  Fortunately there aren't any living bugs still in the table.  But now we have to repair all the bug damage, as well as the dry rot damage.

As you can see in the picture, those were some busy bugs!   The odd thing about this table is that none of the bug damage was visible until the veneer came off.  It was all hidden between the veneer and the hardwood surface.  They really are fortunate that there was no bug damage to the top surface as well.    It is going to be quite a job to deal with all those bug canals, but never fear, the craftsmen are here to save the day.  Before you know it, this table will look amazing again and will be ready for many birthday, christmas, thanksgiving and easter celebrations to come!

Table Leaf with Plasticizer Damage

 This leaf belongs to a beautiful table that has suffered 'plasticizer' damage.  You can see from the photo that it has a strange 'oily' appearance in the finish.  This happened because the owner of the table put a plastic 'table cloth' over it to protect it, and then left in on for a while.  

The problem is that most finishes have a plasticizing agent in their chemical composition to keep the finish from becoming brittle and shattering when dry.  When the plastic cover was used on the table there was a chemical reaction and it actually broke down the finish.  This can create either the weird oily looking surface that you see here, or it can actually melt the surface so that you can pick the finish off with our finger nail.

Usually the only way to fix plasticizer damage is to completely strip and refinish the table.  But before we took that step we tried a less extensive procedure, just in case.  In this situation it was enough.  We began by removing the top layers of the table's finish where the damage was.  We then stabilized the finish and top coated it with a new water base topcoat in a 'Matte' sheen.  Our client is very happy with the results and has also learned a little lesson about plastic and chemistry.

 

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