Antique Repairs and Restorations

Repairs ... We love 'em ... If they could only talk; then they'd be even more interesting .... This pair of tables came in one at a time with the idea that we only had to put a leg back on one of them and patch a broken corner. However, they came in with a bureau that was a basket case when it arrived and looked like a million bucks when it left .... We fixed and delivered that piece first and when the client saw how her bureau had been transformed, she sent us the mate to the table above with instructions to tune them up and refinish the tops, which had suffered some serious damages over the years. So, as we worked with them, we dreamed up their story ... Who knows? Here's what we think..... Click the pictures to enlarge them as we go ...

Here's the bureau ... When it came to us, it looked like it had been in a barn for quite a while ... The drawer supports had all collapsed and the drawers didn't run, more than half of the base was off, the moldings were flapping ... Backboards were missing ... Will did a good job getting it all back together. It took a few hours, but it was definitely worth doing ... When it left, it looked great. Here's the deal on the tables ...

The builder was a skilled craftsmen. The inlays are nicely done, the veneers on the aprons appear to be hand sawn, and the tops of the pair of tables are pairs of bookmatched boards, 1,2,3 center middle outside ... The boards match .... not an accident .

We opted for scraping rather then stripping ... We find when we strip we always have to do a lot of sanding and that kills some of the handmadeness of the surfaces ... scraping's better in our opinion if you can do it ... The finish was not original and it was thin and flaky and actually shot off the front edge of the scraper as I worked.

After we got the leg back on there were about 10 places on the aprons and drawer faces that needed patching or regluing ... The aprons were bricklaid in about 6 layers and then veneered with the grain vertical . The red arrow shows a leg reinforced with a pair of hinges !! We left them there. They worked and you have to honor the history ...

We patched in a bunch of missing pieces and recolored them to match

Here's an interesting thing .... The legs were all cut at the point where the arrow is and the legs that are below that point on the tables now have a different finish and are held on by short half inch diameter dowels (we know cause they wiggle and we fixed one that was broken off) and in some cases hinges ... It also looks like the detail that is on the legs at one time was also on the aprons and drawer fronts.

One had a broken corner and a rotten spot that needed patching

Luckily I had a piece of crotch walnut with similar figure to make a patch

All in, all done ... and ready for the next 50 years or so ...