march

well, i realized yesterday a whole month has passed without a new blog post.

first time in over 10 years ... sign of the times, i suppose.  70 is not the new 50.

we have been busy though .. actually busier than usual, which in some ways is nice .

below is a parade of projects from this month and a little bit of february .. 

cherry vanity and mirror #1

cherry vanity #2 .. had to replumb from 1 sink to two

and we also had to decide how tall the mirror should be

we had to assemble it onsite because it wouldn't make the turn on the stairs

tahdah, in place ...

next was a built in reading bench

a ply case with dovetailed drawers

testing the function

built in ... awaiting cushions

also, a couple of items for a client's pool room .. above a plaque to mount the lights on

sam made brackets to hold the 15' counter up

the 15' walnut counter

driving south in the snow

installed

the walnut game table with the edge inlay

and with the center inlay

your basic old fashioned veneer press

glued in an leveled with some alcohol on it

the base has a tapered hexagonal center column
it's all finished now, but i missed the pacture and it's wrapped now.

 and sam made some steel brackets and we made some barnboard shelves

 and a 12' bench for a local client

with a fine slab of curly maple

3/16/18 ... down to 16 projects that week

 an oak table using the client's antique legs earlier in the month

40" x 7'

back up to 23 projects in the works this week ...

and currently we are wrapping up this custom kitchen island in natural cherry

counted them today ... 67 pieces

it is disassembled and in the finish room now ...

hope to ship that out one on tuesday ... verde antique top coming 42 x 60

and somewhere there we squeezed in a butternut cremation urn

and we repaired this beautiful old oval table this week.

i dropped it off today.  it was sloped about 2" due to the broken leg when i picked it up

we reglued the cracked leg

rebuilt the dovetail and shimmed it

reinforced the glue joint under the new ebony veneer

added a new copper spider

good to go

and sam made this cute little stand for a friends glass panel

black powder coat finish

 and next week i'll be taking a little trip to boston to drop off these steel

benches, visit some friends and play a little indoor badminton. 

something i haven't done for 50 years now ...

i am looking forward to that

 

original equipment, 1968

and i will be totally glad when this snow goes .. this is from last thursday

when we got about 12 inches on top of a foot already on the ground.

we are just starting to see some grass now ... crocuses before too long ...

i am ready for spring.

Cleaning Smoke Damaged Furniture

My man Jim, my jack of all trades assistant, has just received his honorary 'doctorate' from the 'Dorset Custom Furniture School of Restoration' for his recent work in mitigating smoke damage to a large and diverse group of objects, from elephant spears to light fixtures to 18th century painted blanket chests. I met with the clients last Friday and we reviewed the work he had done on their stuff in July and August. They will not be back in their home, which was damaged in a linseed oil fire, until the spring but they are thrilled with the progress he is making. We still have quite a few items left to restore, but Friday he rewired and fitted the paper replacement parts and new bulbs to some of their beautiful Danish chandeliers that they had actually considered, for a moment, to be a total loss. Anyway, the rewiring presented me with a great image as I was leaving for the day. Click the pictures to enlarge them ...

Looking through the finish room door with the chandeliers temporarily plugged in and hung from the ceiling ...

Before

After

Chairs before and after .. we will have to renew the French polish as there is no way we know of to clean the smoke from shellac without also removing the shellac ... Anybody out there know??? We have two fourposter shellaced beds to clean ....

Jim is also now working on other desmoking jobs like this fireplace surround in the house restoration project we're working on ...

After some thought, I have decided not to post our cleaning methods here as, while they work for us, and after some considerable trial and error, Jim knows the right approach and the appropriate precautions for each type of object, I'm not sure we should just stick them up here and laet you have at it. If you would like to contact us regarding what we have learned for your own use, leave a comment below, or email or call me through my website and I would be happy to share what we have learned along with our many precautions and disclaimers ...