Oak & Beech Desk Restoration

As the title suggests, this is an Oak and Beech Desk, it was once used in a Convent in London, and is now in use in a Church in North West London. 

This was as you can see in a very poor state, and needed my care and attention in order to bring it back to life.

Firstly, I stripped off the entire finish apart from the side and centre panels, after sanding down to a smooth finish, I had to inlay some missing veneers on the top surface. 

With the panels not being in too bad a condition, I was able to smooth them down using wet and dry paper for a super smooth finish.

Then I stained the desk using a light Oak stain as would be best suited for this desk.  Once dry I then sprayed over with numerous coats of 70% lacquer for a very long-lasting finish.

Also, you will note that the top had a new leather top fitted not by me.
A lovely green leather was chosen and alongside it incorporated a tooled edging as was on the old leather.

Veneer and the polish in a worn-out state

This shows the tooling around the edge.

This is after preparation and staining.

Always, best to remove the handles to ensure a clean drawer surface and access to the back of the handles

Nice new leather top

Now ready to give years of service to the Church.

I hope that you have enjoyed looking at the start to finish pictures, thank you for taking the time to visit my Blogsite. 

Another (Dyrlund) Table

This is typical,

I have finished one table and now just compleated another.

The same process was used as before, the table came to me already stripped and ready for sanding smooth, however, it's not that simple I always inspect the surface for any fine scratch lines that will certainly show up once the table has been stained.

Once sanded, and happy with the stain colour then onto applying various coats of lacquer for a long-lasting and durable finish.

As you can see from the pictures the top came out really nice.

Hope that you have enjoyed looking at these before and after pictures. Thank you for taking the time to visit my site.

When Things Go Wrong?

When things go wrong?

Well, this is something very important and needs to be looked at as and when it does happen, how do we overcome it and put things right? 

Firstly, with experience built up over many years, this will give you a much wider perspective on how to go about the best way to solve the problems as and when they do occur.  

How many people have sanded through the veneer?  And then the panic sets in oh what can I do now?  Well if things are so bad and the affected veneer can’t be touched up then it will need to be replaced with a new veneer.

How many of you have ever taken on a job, and thought how am I ever going to do this?  Must be all of us I reckon, I know that I have and many times.  Well, for me it works that I stand back from the job and take a fresh look and work out the best way to approach the situation, i.e. should I strip off the old finish? Or should the wood be solid and allow me to sand the surface?  As this would remove dents and marks within the surface, however, if I over sandpaper then I would be at risk of losing the old patina should the piece be an antique and that would be dreadful.

How about the classic blister on the surface?  How can we deal with that situation?  Do we heat the head of a hammer and press the blister down whilst the hammer is still hot so as to melt the old fashioned glue beneath the veneer as this often works on the old Animal glues used and in some workshops are still being used today.  Or do we cut a fine line into the veneer and apply glue into the blister and then apply a clamp to apply pressure whilst it dries. 

What about the dreadful woodworm?  Do we inject the woodworm killer?  Or do we soak the wood in a bath of woodworm killer?  Well, whatever does the job best for you.  Once the killer has dried do we then attempt to fill in the holes?  Or do we leave them to show that the item has age and character?  Well, that depends on what your client shall be expecting from you, and hopefully, you have had a discussion as to what is possible and what can be achieved given the condition of the item in the first place.

For me, it always seems that I get the jobs that no one else wants to do or perhaps can’t do.  Therefore I have a saying that I am sure you have heard before and that is “If you can do the hard jobs the easy ones are very easy”.  

One job that I would not take on are pianos why because they take up so much space and the workshop has to be almost spotless, well for me that was very difficult with other furniture to work on at the same time such as sanding causing dust everywhere.

Also, the amount of work that you have to put into working on pianos is tremendous and therefore the price, in my opinion, would be too high and most clients would not wish to pay for all of my efforts. 

Over the years I have self-taught myself how to repair furniture and in doing so meant that I rarely had to call in a Carpenter, therefore, keeping the cost down and that makes for a happy client that will come back for other jobs in the future.  Smart move.

Well, I hope that this will give you something to think about before you take on a job that you are not quite sure about.

Thank you for taking the time to read my posts, if you like them, please tell your like-minded friends and spread the word.
Kind regards. 

Thank you.

Rosewood Circular Flip Flap (Dyrlund) Dining Table

This is a job that I took on about one year ago now, it came to me with the top lacquer stripped off.

Due to the uneven remnants of the old finish still remaining, I lightly sanded the surface at first with my sander, and then a super smooth using my sanding block. Thus removing any fine lines left by the sanding machine.

Now ready for staining, and finishing.
After checking for any fine scratch marks prior to staining and being confident there were none, it was time to stain using Rosewood stain.

Once dry I sprayed over with several coats of 70% Lacquer as required, once dried, it was time for a smooth down with 1000 grit paper for a very fine finish, then applied several more spray coats of lacquer to ensure a good depth of finish.

As you can see from the pictures that the top came out really nice.

The Table was made in the 1970s and was and still is very popular today.

These Tables were made in Denmark, and sold in very large quantities, I can remember back to the 70s when I used to work on them whilst working for a World famous Department Store in Knightsbridge, in London. 

Thanks for taking the time to visit and read my posts.

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Thank you so much for your continued interest in French polishing and the content I have available here for you to learn and develop you skills.

Kind regards,
Andrew.