Finally Done!!

[RangerJay]

The restoration/refinishing of this table has been a long time coming - with a heck of a lot of trial and error along the way - but it is finally done!

Not sure of this tables age but it was "discovered" in a back corner of the basement in a century old character home that my youngest son purchased some time ago - it had been horribly brush painted "white" and was covered in multiple layers of the kinds of crud and corruption you'd expect to find in a damp, dark basement - it had obviously been forgotten there for many years - maybe even decades - in other words - it looked downright scary ......

What you see in the pictures is that the table top folds over - and the frame stretches - to become a table twice its size - what you don't see is that the frame can continue to stretch out even more - and with the appropriate leaves - it will become a table roughly 6 1/2 feet in length.  The leaves have long since disappeared - but I do think I will remake them so the table will truly represent it's original intent.

I'm pleased with how it turned out - most of the dark staining and polished out gloss covers many of my mistakes - but do have one big regret ..... I didn't take a picture of what it looked like when I started!!

Forgot to mention ......

..... my son wants the table back ......

 

Jay

 

[Scrappile]

Refinishing is an art and a lot of work.  You did a beautiful job.

[meflick]

Beautiful work and adding leaves back for it will just make it that much more.  I think I would have to tell my son after I had done all of that hard work, he could have it back - when I died! 

[Falcon]

Outstanding job! Go ahead and pat yourself on the back for me I'm too far away lol

[GPscroller]

Awesome job, looks fantastic.

Jeff

[amazingkevin]

Super job,Refinishing is tough!

[RangerJay]

Many thanks for the kind words of all of you - I have to admit that - despite all the trial and error and time involved - this was a genuinely enjoyable project - and made enjoyable in no small part by the knowledge gained through watching the you tube videos of this guy:  https://www.thomasjohnsonrestoration.com/ - unfortunately the lessons I learned were usually just a bit too late - meaning I had already screwed up ...... check out his you tube channel - you won't regret it.

Thanks again,

Jay

 

[spirithorse]

Wow! Incredible find and incredible work!
Thanks for sharing and God Bless! Spirithorse

[munzieb]

It's really wonderful to see such a beautiful and functional piece of furniture brought back to this amazing condition!

Well Done!

[oldhudson]

Clearly an outstanding job. It looks fabulous!!!  Brilliant.

It would be great if you included some of the details e.g., kind(s) stripper used, finishing layers (maybe shellac followed by varnish?), were the joints re-glued and so on.  With all this work I would think making the extra leaves should be 'duck soup'.

[RangerJay]

4 hours ago, oldhudson said:

Clearly an outstanding job. It looks fabulous!!!  Brilliant.

It would be great if you included some of the details e.g., kind(s) stripper used, finishing layers (maybe shellac followed by varnish?), were the joints re-glued and so on.  With all this work I would think making the extra leaves should be 'duck soup'.

Brilliant is not a word I'd attach to this project - but thanks for the comments - they truly are appreciated - I'll flush out some of the details - but it might take a bit of time -there is a very real possibility it might end up reading like an epic novel - in fact that old duster, "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" might be an appropriate theme  .......

Thanks again,

Jay 

 

[RangerJay]

On 6/27/2018 at 9:06 AM, oldhudson said:

It would be great if you included some of the details e.g., kind(s) stripper used, finishing layers (maybe shellac followed by varnish?), were the joints re-glued and so on.  With all this work I would think making the extra leaves should be 'duck soup'.

Here is a bit of the detail on this project.

Paint Removal:

This was the least enjoyable chore – also the source of my first and biggest mistake.  Started with the top surfaces using the paint removers I had in the shop – none of them seemed to touch it – not sure why – have stripped and refinished a few pieces in the past but never had any issues like this before – paint old, thick and hard? didn’t put enough stripper on? didn’t wait long enough? – regardless the reason I got frustrated and thought I could finesse the belt sander into doing the job – not a great decision – despite trying to be careful I sanded through the veneer in a couple spots and gouged the top in a couple others.

Paint on the frame and legs was a lot easier to remove – used a floppy wheel sander on the dremel for the smooth portions – worked well – and used a small round diamond burr on the carvings – also worked well – cleaned up the legs with a mop sander on a cordless drill – did a great job – and palm sander on the flat portions of the frame – time consuming but no real issues at all.

Repairs: 

There were lots ….. I came to think that the workings of the stretch features of the table were a bad design – or perhaps a good design poorly executed – this table had obviously been repaired before – many times – and that very likely all the repairs originated from forcing the tables stretch features when it just didn’t want to stretch (or close).

Damaged top panels from hidden hinges:  The folding top used two hidden hinges – mortised into top panels – unfortunately the hinges were small and the screws undersized – which loosened the hinges over time and caused a level of wear that actually broke through the panel surfaces on both sides of each panel.  I chose to rout out a complete strip of the damaged wood and replace.  I also chose to replace the 2 hidden hinges with 4 visible brass card table type hinges routed in to be flush with the surface.  The routed voids of the original hidden hinges I filled with wood epoxy.

Loose/damaged legs:  The legs had obviously caused grief in the past – one of the carved front legs had previously been badly broken and repaired.  There was no shortage of historical glue in the corner joints and it was also clear that the same leg that had been broken had also broken out that entire corner joint and then been glued back together.  Despite both front legs being loose I chose not to take the joints apart – it seemed way beyond my skill level – so I reinforced the joints with more robust corner braces – cleaned and filled the joints as best I could with chair doctor glue – then clamped – and added a screw joining the weak side of each leg and frame - the screw holes I capped with a dowel.  Should also add that each of the carved legs had been put together with laminated wood – which had cracked over time – I cleaned and filled the cracks with wood epoxy. I spent quite a bit of time on the leg joints and feel good about the outcome – they are very solid – hopefully for a long time to come.

Warped/binding sliders:  This I think was a pretty big deal and the root cause of a lot of issues – several of the pieces had obviously been replaced before – and a bunch of the dowels (used as stops) had obviously been broken and replaced as well.  I took the sliders out and sanded them all to 220 grit – then waxed – there were two sliders that had warped so I removed them and ran them (lightly) over the jointer and through the planer – didn’t take a lot of material here – more a clean-up than anything else – I did end up having to replace a couple of dowels.  Once put back together and waxed everything moved smoothly and easily.  As I said before - my own sense of this design is that the sliders were an historical source of binding – which led to forcing, banging, kicking the table to get it to stretch or shrink ….. which inevitably didn’t work out so well …..

Large areas of broken/missing trim:  Guess a hundred years or so of wear and tear is going to take its toll – and further guessing exposed trim is most vulnerable – the replacement trim I picked was close – but no cigar – in part I chose it because it was wide enough to hide some of the veneer damage that occurred when pieces of the original trim had been broken off.

Broken emblem:  There wasn’t a whole lot left of the original emblem left on the front of the table – this was a bit of a tough choice deciding how to replace it – thought about scrolling a replacement – thought this would be kinda neat – looked at lots of patterns but none of them seemed to work – ultimately found this leaf carving in Home Depot for a ridiculously cheap price …... decision made …..

Damaged/loose/missing veneer:  There was quite a bit of loose veneer on the frame – all of the loose veneer was able to be re-glued and clamped – not a big deal. Where there was broken out and missing veneer (a couple small sections) I just filled with putty and stained over.

 Finishing:

Sanding:  Before spraying the entire table was sanded to 220 grit.

Staining:  After a lot of research and what seemed like hundreds of You Tube videos I chose to use Minwax Gel Stain (Brazilian Rosewood) as a product that should give reasonable control over the depth of the colour, allow imperfections to be covered where needed and still allow some of the original grain to show through.  The legs and frame each got three coats.  The flat table surfaces got 4.  I can say that with the 4^th coat on the table tops the colour turned out quite a bit darker than I had anticipated – close to black – but regardless I am happy with the outcome.

Finishing:  My finish is always the same: Minwax Semi-Gloss Polyurethane.  Since taking up the scrollsaw I use rattle cans – this project took a heck of a bunch ….. good thing I get a healthy discount by ordering through our local hardware store.  I waited 24 hours between coats and did a light sanding with 220 paper between coats.  The frame and legs were 4 coats and the flat table top surfaces were 6.  To aid in drying there is a de-humidifier in the shop that allows me to keep the humidity between 34 and 38% and I also have a small fan that I direct towards the work from a few feet away.

Polishing/Buffing:  After the last coat of polyurethane had dried the frame and legs were waxed using 0000 steel wool as the applicator then buffed with a soft cloth (I do this with all my scrollsaw projects).  Table top surfaces were different – they took a bit of time, some serious TLC and a lot of elbow grease.  I had wanted an attractive reflective gloss and think in the end this was achieved.  Each was first sanded by hand with 2000 wet/dry paper.  Then compounded by hand.  Then machine polished with a typical car polish that restores dull finishes, then machine waxed with TreWax furniture wax (this gave it a bit of a hard gloss that I wasn’t all that fussy about), so put a final thin coat of Claphams Beeswax Polish applied by hand which seemed to give a softer, richer lustre that I was pleased with.

Those who actually know what they’re doing might cringe at a few of the things I’ve done here – but in the end, despite some hiccups, it all seemed to work out and I’m pretty pleased.

I’ve added a few pictures to try and show some of what I've talked about here.

Final action was to take it into the house and integrate it into our living room furniture ……. my wife is going to have a seriously hard time letting it go …..

Thanks,

 

Jay

 

[Rockytime]

Amazing project. Beautiful.