Recently, I had the great pleasure of staining and finishing the wooden frame to this beautiful picture.

I shall add information about the picture lower down for you to read.


Craftsman at work constructing the frame that he skillfully made.

Biscuit jointed for added strength

Superb Mitering

Now over to me for the staining and finishing

Taped up the corners for a clean stained finish with no overlap

Applying spray lacquer for a very long-lasting finish

Applying the final coat

Now for it to be hung in the Church

Everything is well, and time to stand back and admire the real beauty of this picture.

The Image of The Divine Mercy

In 1931, our Lord appeared to St. Faustina in a vision. She saw Jesus clothed in a white garment with His right hand raised in blessing. His left hand was touching His garment in the area of the Heart, from where two large rays came forth, one red and the other pale. She gazed intently at the Lord in silence, her soul filled with awe, but also with great joy. Jesus said to her:

Paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the signature: Jesus, I trust in You. I promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish. I also promise victory over [its] enemies already here on earth, especially at the hour of death. I Myself will defend it as My own glory (Diary, 47, 48). I am offering people a vessel with which they are to keep coming for graces to the fountain of mercy. That vessel is this image with the signature: Jesus, I trust in You (327). I desire that this image be venerated, first in your chapel, and [then] throughout the world (47).

At the request of her spiritual director, St. Faustina asked the Lord about the meaning of the rays in the image. She heard these words in reply:

The two rays denote Blood and Water. The pale ray stands for the Water which makes souls righteous. The red ray stands for the Blood which is the life of souls. These two rays issued forth from the depths of My tender mercy when My agonized Heart was opened by a lance on the Cross. Happy is the one who will dwell in their shelter, for the just hand of God shall not lay hold of him (299). By means of this image, I shall grant many graces to souls. It is to be a reminder of the demands of My mercy because even the strongest faith is of no avail without works (742).
,
These words indicate that the Image represents the graces of Divine Mercy poured out upon the world, especially through Baptism and the Eucharist.

Many different versions of this image have been painted, but our Lord made it clear that the painting itself is not what is important. When St. Faustina first saw the original image that was being painted under her direction, she wept in disappointment and complained to Jesus: "Who will paint You as beautiful as You are?" (313).

In answer, she heard these words: "Not in the beauty of the colour, nor of the brush lies the greatness of this image, but in My grace" (313).

So, no matter which version of the image we prefer, we can be assured that it is a vehicle of God’s grace if it is revered with trust in His mercy.

I have used this reference as a guide to assist you and to give you a clear understanding regarding this painting. 

Should you wish to see this picutre for yourself, it is hung in, Roman Catholic Church of The Five Precious Wounds, Stonebridge Park, Brentfield Road, London NW10 BER 

Please be respectful during Mass times.

Thankyou, to The Parish Priest, for his love of Art and attention to detail.
Respectfully,
Andrew.

A useful tip

Hi, 

Today, I want to give you a useful tip that could just help you out one day.

Sometimes I have people call me up asking for me to give them a price over the phone for French polishing work.

And when I tell them that I am unable to do that why?  Because how can you price for something that you haven’t seen?  

For example, a few days ago I was asked to price for three chairs, again I thought that I have to see them for myself, good job that I did because not only were they in a very bad state, I noticed that one of the back legs had a nasty break in it thus making for a very difficult repair.

Also, the chairs were covered with fabric that was going to be changed, however; I would have to tear back the fabric to gain access to the leg.

Most people are honest but every now and then, I do and have come across people that are not completely honest with me and will not point out known faults with their furniture, until I notice them for myself.

My point is I would strongly suggest that you like me only give a price for works once you have given the item a thorough inspection.

And going back to my inspection of the three chairs, after giving what I thought was a reasonable price the client declined it as it was thought to be too expensive. 

Well, at least I saved myself, what could have been what I call a headache job.

Hope this will be of some use to you one day?

Thank you for taking the time to read my posts.

Could they be any worse?

Welcome,

As you can see that these chairs have not been finished by a professional French polisher.
Showing thick varnish running over the edges and generally looking dreadful. 

Certainly in great need of my skills to make them look as good as new. 

My Client was extremely delighted with the outcome.

Thanks for taking the time to view my Blogs.

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.