I've never seen this before

As the title suggests, I've never seen this before and was so surprised to have come across this.

This flooring was sent all the way over from Brazil and was laid nicely, however, for the protection it was covered with plastic sheeting with the intention of keeping it from being damaged.

Unfortunately, when the covering was lifted it removed all of the floor coatings, and to make things worse it left an imprint throughout the whole room and every room that had been fitted upstairs. 

In other words a complete disaster, I was asked if I could do anything with this? And I thought to myself do I need a headache?  No, I didn't I suggested that a flooring company could sand off the surface and refinish it.  A major project and the colour would have to be matched exactly.

I was surprised as to why the flooring manufacturer did not stain the wood first and then coat it over with several layers of lacquer to avoid this happening.  Instead of just spray colouring the flooring I guess it must be easier for them.

The picture shows builders footprints and the manufacturers warning about the fact that the covering must be removed within thirty days.

What I think caused the damage, and why the film covering stuck so hard, was due to the extreme heat that we have had recently in the UK.  And as the room windows had no covering to stop the strong sunlight coming through and this led to the room temperature rising extensively and baked the coating onto the floor lacquer.

There is a lesson to be learnt here, don't use plastic film in hot environments, for a few pounds extra, Correx covering would have protected the flooring and as it's a little thicker this might have kept the Sun back.

I have worked on floor damage before, but on this occasion, I decided this was going to be too much for me. A wise decision I feel.

Someone will have a large headache sorting this out.
Thank you for reading my posts.

If you remember this furniture

If you remember this make of furniture then you have been in the furniture business for a very long time now, I used to work on this furniture back in the 70s.

The make/range of this furniture is called Stag, now that it's come back to you hasn't it.

I never liked working on Stag furniture why I hear you ask.  Well, it was I think the hardest colour to touch up due to the graining and the amount of sprayed on colours, which made it very difficult to make good any marks or scratches.

As you can see from the pictures and the poor state of this chest of drawers it definitely needs my attention.

After stripping off the entire surface finish, I sanded down by going through the various sandpaper grades, to achieve a super smooth surface.

As I stated earlier this is extremely difficult to replicate the original colour, lucky for me I found in my wood finishing store cupboard a bottle that had been there for years, I had no idea what was in it, so I shook up the bottle and tested the stain on some timber and a miracle happened it was absolutely perfect, I could never have matched this colour or it would have taken me ages to do so.

With my spirits lifted, I went ahead and stained the unit, and once it had dried out, it was then time for me to apply several spray lacquer coats as it had been finished that way when it was made.

I am so pleased with the way this unit came out, and better still my customer was delighted with my work.

Quality workmanship once again, thanks for visiting my Blogsite.

Mission impossible

These garage doors were in a dreadful condition, and with the wood surface being so uneven, it was too difficult to achieve a flat surface that could have been stained and varnished as was first intended.

Therefore, I had to paint the doors to cover up the stubborn varnish that could not be got at with my sander.
My client chose the paint colour, and as you can see, has really made a great improvement.

It seems even no matter how difficult a job can be, there's always a way to accomplish a fantastic finish.

As you can now see, just how bad a condition the doors were in, the one on the left is after I have scraped and sanded off the surface.  And the right-hand door has peeling coloured varnish.

After a wash down of the framework, and a touch up of the hinges makes for a clean and tidy finish. The rotten beading's have been cut level ready for replacement in due course.
As I have stated before, if you can polish you can and should be able to paint.

Another mission impossible job completed.  Why do I get hard jobs?

A Dog's Dinner

These arms from a Client's chair were badly chewed by their Dog, the repair was given to what turned out to be a less experienced French polisher, and clients were understandably very disappointed with the outcome. 

The works were then given to me to salvage, yet another tricky job.
However, the finished result was very satisfying to the client.

The underside before works

After scraping off the finish to see what's underneath

A difficult shape to work with

Sanded off

After staining and finishing

A close up of quality workmanship

I can never understand, why people choose to use inexperienced French polisher's in the first place, perhaps they are doing the work at a cheaper price. 

At least the Customer was very happy with my work, and that's all that matters I guess.

Thanks for reading my post's. 

Coffee table restoration

This Coffee table, as you can see is in very bad condition, it looks like it has been very badly touched up with what looks like the wrong colours.

I stripped off the old finish back to the wood, thankfully the surface was in good condition, then I had to stain match the colour with the base, and for a durable finish, I sprayed over the surface with several coats of semi-matt lacquer. 

The customer was really amazed at the outcome. 

It's best to strip off the old surface, to avoid adhesion problems between one finish and another.
Thanks for visiting my Blogsite. 

Gave up Teaching

Hello to you all.

Around this time last year, I decided I'd had enough of teaching and decided that after Fifteen-years as a Tutor running an evening class for Adults.  
(Teaching French polishing)

Despite my learners being keen to learn and being very nice people, I had enough of the seemingly endless paperwork involved whilst running my class.  Together with the ceaseless ongoing training, the last course I was expected to take part in was mental health awareness, and I was to feel that my time was being taken up as a surrogate Parent to my Adults.

My learners, never wanted or asked for all the paperwork that was put before them such as Individual Lesson plans, Scheme of works, and Record of achievement's to mention a few however, I do understand that some of the paperwork was necessary to be able to evaluate the learner's achievements.

I really loved to teach and pass on my knowledge of French polishing, and Wood-finishing, and have enjoyed my time running my classes.
Unfortunately, together with the disappointment as and when my course would or could be cancelled at the last minute through lack of learners didn't help.

It's my opinion that the teaching profession is tied up in overzealous bureaucracy and too much red tape that hinders learners progress.

The Management team, despite their best efforts to run and encourage the courses, are under too much pressure from the authorities to produce positive figures and outcomes for the various Government bodies.

I hope that throughout my time spent teaching, I have inspired many Adults to go on to produce some fine quality Wood-finishing.

Thank you, for taking the time to read my posts, I very much appreciate it.

  

Oak Cabinet restoration

How about this one, it came to me in bits, and as you can see needs lot's of work to put it back to its former glory. 
Had to be stripped off, and then I sanded it smooth but tried to keep some of the age as much as possible, then stained the cabinet and spent time to re-finish as required. 

I think that it was made around the 1930s but it's not always easy to tell.

Another happy customer!