Furniture

Repairs Repairs Nothing but Repairs

I keep thinking I'm going to make little creative projects but I never seem to shake off repairing things. Currently I have been fixing a garden seat which had a broken slat. The likely culprit is the dog. Then I discovered that it had a rotten back rest. This meant that I had to remake part of the backrest. In reality the repair is worth more than the bench. But management wanted it preserved as it was a gift from our son. I'm am also fixing an old radiogram so that it can be sold. The problem with this is that the veneer on the cabinet is lifting. It is so damaged that it could probably be thrown out. However it belonged to my inlaws so my wife wants it fixed and sold. Im not even sure that any of the electrics work anymore. The record player hasn't been used in years and the radio frequencies are no longer in use. I'm not game to plug it in as it might blow a fuse!The unit predates FM radio and we won't evenmention DAB+. Then there is a chair waiting renovation , another ready to re-upholster (since 2019) and a dining table that could be refinished for sale. Somewhere in the middle I made a stand for a prot barrel sadly not my port barrel. So it's all repairs at the moment and we are downsizing. Garden Seat Back Garden Seat BackPort BarellRadiogramRadiogram VeneerChair FrameAssembled Chair FrameWaiting to be finishedRepairs Repairs

Old Chairs to Repair

I purchased a couple of old chairs online for $15 each, The woman I bought them from said optimistically that old chairs only needed a quick sand and the vinyl was still good. This was an optimistic assessment of the old chairs. I have started the lengthy process of dismantling one the old chairs so I can repair both. This involves carefully taking the covers off so that you have a pattern for the new material. I have made a short video  of the process thus far. The extensive rotting of some parts has requires a bit of repair. I'm confident I will get a good outcome.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=El_pOjWCtS4&t=3s

More Images with Gutenberg

Just trying the gallery tool seems to work without too much hassle. The Gutenberg thing is a bit of a paradigm shift. I think I am getting my head around it. This is an attempt to use the gallery block. Easy enough but I can't see any obvious way to fiddle with the gallery lay out . 

By |August 3rd, 2018|Categories: Furniture, News|0 Comments

A Family Restoration – Kitchen Table

This is a family restoration the piece in question belonged to my wife's grandmother. I twas most likely a dressing table or a washstand. There is evidence on the top that something was screwed to it in the past. Grandma used it as a kitchen table (which is what I will refer to it as) and bench which means the top took a beating.  Other than that the piece was in reasonably good condition. There were no manufacturer's marks which makes dating the piece difficult. Im no expert but it looks Edwardian to me  so it must be over 100 years old. Kitchen table The kitchen table was finished with shellac so I washed it with methylated spirits and steel wool. The top was the most damaged and I used a cabinet scraper to remove most os the finish. This exposed the old screw holes so I ended up sandins the whole top. Sanding removed some water damage but left the timber looking brand new. I didn't touch the edges other than a light sand. I needed to fill some old screw holes and decided to use wooden plugs. The timber was difficult to identify. In the end I used some red pine as the  grain and colour were close to the original. After more sanding I stained the top with a mahogany stain to bring it closer to the rest of the kitchen table. I applied several coats of shellac to the top and then followed up with three coats to the entire piece. I sanded lightly between coats leaving the final coat. After a week or so I applied beeswax which brought a nice finish. The only other challenge were two of [...]

More Storage for the Walk in Robe

An out of the blue request from SWMBO to tidy up the walk in robe. The storage unit is approximately 1800 mm high and 900 mm wide with a shelf depth of 295 mm. In order to save time I decided to build the storage unit out of precut material all the sheets are 295mm wide. I bought melamine covered particle board 3 pieces at 1800 mm and 7 pieces at 1200mm. A sheet of 3mm MDF serves as the back of the storage unit. Cutting was straight forward 2 of the 1200mm boards were docked at 900 for the top and bottom. One 1800mm board was cut to 1768 as the centre divider. The carcass was assembled on  floor with the bottom top and sides assembled first. The storage unit was screwed together with 32mm 8 gauge chipboard screws. The divider was put in next and followed by the shelves. I measured the width of the shelves after the carcass was constructed to ensure accuracy. Two offcuts of melamine was used to space the shelves at 295mm. This saved time as I did not have to measure and mark for each shelf.    On one side I had to use pocket holes to attach the shelves to the central divider. This was not so successful because some of the pocket hole screws pushed through the adjoining shelf. I did this because I wanted a single piece in the middle. I did try an model the unit in Sketchup prior to construction but a pencil and paper was a much quicker way to draw up plans. The unit is now installed and awaiting the arrival of clothes.

Picture This C — Pegs and ‘Tails

I follow this blog and love the insights into period furniture. This a mistake by Chippendale no less. “All craftsmen make blunders, but what separates the truly great ones is the ability to redress their mistakes.” Regular reader, Burbidge, emailed me about an aspect of the mahogany linen press in figure 1. It conforms closely to the drawing in Thomas Chippendale’s Cabinet Maker’s Director and was almost certainly made by him: The bracket […] via Picture This C — Pegs and 'Tails

By |December 7th, 2016|Categories: Furniture, News|Tags: |0 Comments

Art and Industry in Early America: Rhode Island Furniture, 1650–1830 — Pegs and ‘Tails

For my North American reader: Art and Industry in Early America: Rhode Island Furniture, 1650–1830 – an exhibition, August 19, 2016–January 8, 2017. Mahogany ‘desk and bookcase’ by Christopher Townsend, circa 1745–50. (Yale University) This groundbreaking exhibition presents a comprehensive survey of Rhode Island furniture from the colonial and early Federal periods, including elaborately carved chairs, […] via Art and Industry in Early America: Rhode Island Furniture, 1650–1830 — Pegs and 'Tails

Baby Chair Repair – Part 3

This is the final part of the baby chair repair. Part 1 focussed on dismantling and stripping the paint off the baby chair. Part 2  was concerned with repairing the dismantled parts. This last part is about sanding finishing and assembly. Sanding is a boring but necessary part of any project. Many YouTube woodworking videos skip over sanding in fear of boring their audience. The baby chair had lots of sanding. I completed the finishing process using cabinet scrapers which always yields great results. I brushed on a water based varnish allowing a day between coats. A light sand between coats knocked the bumps off. I waited for a week to before final assembly so that the finish would harden. I recall reading about this in a Woodsmith magazine a long time ago. The metal parts including the wheels were also caked with years of paint. Paint stripper and a wire brush cleaned up these parts. I finished the metal parts with a two part rust inhibiting paint. A black satin finish sets the metal work off nicely. As with the previous parts there is a compilation courtesy of Animoto.

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