Master Woodworking and Furniture Repair

This project was poorly documented by yours truly.  I began with the cedar box below.  It was not on bad shape apart form a broken leg and some glass rings on the top.  The customer asked for a refinishing and repair. The results are below. While I was there picking up the Cedar Chest, the customer also had the night table below which has seen some rough handling.  Again, the results are below.

A good friend brought this Sewing Cabinet to me to see what I could do with it.  It's clearly fairly old, and just as clearly has seen some rough use.  On top of that, the old finish, apparently shellac, had absorbed decades of gunge and crud until it was just about opaque.  While I had serious doubts about being able to clean the existing finish up to a point where it would be serviceable again, I agreed to try a cleaning, first.   The closeup of the top below is representative of the condition of the rest of the piece.  Cleaning quickly became an unrealistic task.  I consulted with my friend and we decided that, as the piece was going to be displayed and used, a refinishing was the best course of action.  So, I went ahead and started stripping the finish.  SURPRISE!!!  Beneath all of that crud is a beautiful slab of Mahogany.  As I went along the whole piece just revealed more and more beautifully grained and figured wo...

The test chair came out pretty well.  I would like to have gotten the web a little tighter.  Got the table stripped and stained  The wood came out a little lighter than I expected.  Still, it's very pretty grain. The apron. It's been a while since I've posted an update.  But here we go The chairs are done and delivered.  The owner was very pleased with her chairs.  Aren't you glad I don't make a living as a photographer? This has been the bigger challenge.  The owner and I decided against restoring the "leather" centerpiece, and I was given artistic freedom to "fill the gap" as it were.  Here's what I came up with.  The outer ring is walnut, the wedges are maple and the centerpiece is walnut.  I still have a bit of finish work to do, but I expect to deliver within a week or two.  It's been a long project, but a satisfying one and this is for on...