Finally done repairing and refinishing a table passed down to my wife
from her grandmother. Took almost a year. Supposedly it is over 100
years old and was in bad shape.
All oak. Top pieces tongue and grove held together with probably
animinal hide glue. It was coming apart and the old dried glue was
hard as rocks......and nothing I could find would remove or soften it.
Had to carefully sand it off. Top skirt cracked in several places,
and a lot of work needed on the legs.
Stripped, sanded, repaired, and stained with a custom mixed color
my wife wanted. Two coats of oil based poly, four coats on the top.
Got a lot of help from the net, this group, books, other
woodworking friends. Thank you all.
Came out better than I expected, and most important my wife is
happy.

In article ,
BumHead wrote:

Came out better than I expected, and most important my wife is
happy.

Nice work!

--
Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by

BumHead wrote:
Finally done repairing and refinishing a table passed down to my wife
from her grandmother. Took almost a year. Supposedly it is over 100
years old and was in bad shape.
All oak. Top pieces tongue and grove held together with probably
animinal hide glue. It was coming apart and the old dried glue was
hard as rocks......and nothing I could find would remove or soften it.
Had to carefully sand it off. Top skirt cracked in several places,
and a lot of work needed on the legs.
Stripped, sanded, repaired, and stained with a custom mixed color
my wife wanted. Two coats of oil based poly, four coats on the top.
Got a lot of help from the net, this group, books, other
woodworking friends. Thank you all.
Came out better than I expected, and most important my wife is
happy.


Looks like a brand new table, and a very pretty one at that! I know it
took a ton of work. I can just here those guys on the Antiques Roadshow,
though, telling you how you destroyed any value it had as an antique. ;-)

On Wed, 11 Apr 2007 08:10:12 -0500, "Charlie M. 1958"
wrote:

BumHead wrote:
Finally done repairing and refinishing a table passed down to my wife
from her grandmother. Took almost a year. Supposedly it is over 100
years old and was in bad shape.
All oak. Top pieces tongue and grove held together with probably
animinal hide glue. It was coming apart and the old dried glue was
hard as rocks......and nothing I could find would remove or soften it.
Had to carefully sand it off. Top skirt cracked in several places,
and a lot of work needed on the legs.
Stripped, sanded, repaired, and stained with a custom mixed color
my wife wanted. Two coats of oil based poly, four coats on the top.
Got a lot of help from the net, this group, books, other
woodworking friends. Thank you all.
Came out better than I expected, and most important my wife is
happy.


Looks like a brand new table, and a very pretty one at that! I know it
took a ton of work. I can just here those guys on the Antiques Roadshow,
though, telling you how you destroyed any value it had as an antique. ;-)

But from the description it was fire wood prior to fixing it

Mark
(sixoneeight) = 618

so much of that "don't do a thing to repair or refinish"furniture and such
is a crock. I would want someone 100 years from now redoing a piece of mine
if needed to ensure it lasts another hundred years. Call me crazy, but when
I redo a piece can almost hear the craftsman who made it thanking me.
"Charlie M. 1958" wrote in message
...
BumHead wrote:
Finally done repairing and refinishing a table passed down to my wife
from her grandmother. Took almost a year. Supposedly it is over 100
years old and was in bad shape.
All oak. Top pieces tongue and grove held together with probably
animinal hide glue. It was coming apart and the old dried glue was
hard as rocks......and nothing I could find would remove or soften it.
Had to carefully sand it off. Top skirt cracked in several places,
and a lot of work needed on the legs.
Stripped, sanded, repaired, and stained with a custom mixed color
my wife wanted. Two coats of oil based poly, four coats on the top.
Got a lot of help from the net, this group, books, other
woodworking friends. Thank you all.
Came out better than I expected, and most important my wife is
happy.


Looks like a brand new table, and a very pretty one at that! I know it
took a ton of work. I can just here those guys on the Antiques Roadshow,
though, telling you how you destroyed any value it had as an antique. ;-)

chefbob wrote:
so much of that "don't do a thing to repair or refinish"furniture and such
is a crock. I would want someone 100 years from now redoing a piece of mine
if needed to ensure it lasts another hundred years. Call me crazy, but when
I redo a piece can almost hear the craftsman who made it thanking me.
"Charlie M. 1958" wrote in message
...
BumHead wrote:
Finally done repairing and refinishing a table passed down to my wife
from her grandmother. Took almost a year. Supposedly it is over 100
years old and was in bad shape.
All oak. Top pieces tongue and grove held together with probably
animinal hide glue. It was coming apart and the old dried glue was
hard as rocks......and nothing I could find would remove or soften it.
Had to carefully sand it off. Top skirt cracked in several places,
and a lot of work needed on the legs.
Stripped, sanded, repaired, and stained with a custom mixed color
my wife wanted. Two coats of oil based poly, four coats on the top.
Got a lot of help from the net, this group, books, other
woodworking friends. Thank you all.
Came out better than I expected, and most important my wife is
happy.


Looks like a brand new table, and a very pretty one at that! I know it
took a ton of work. I can just here those guys on the Antiques Roadshow,
though, telling you how you destroyed any value it had as an antique. ;-)


As the one who made that comment, let me clarify: I was making fun of
the whole idea of not touching the finish.

Now I suppose that if I owned an 18th century piece and they told me it
was worth $80k untouched, or 10k if I refinished it, I'd leave it alone
and sell it to the highest bidder. But I agree that the whole "patina"
thing is rather silly.

Very nice work. Could you post a before picture?
Ted
"BumHead" wrote in message
...
Finally done repairing and refinishing a table passed down to my wife
from her grandmother. Took almost a year. Supposedly it is over 100
years old and was in bad shape.
All oak. Top pieces tongue and grove held together with probably
animinal hide glue. It was coming apart and the old dried glue was
hard as rocks......and nothing I could find would remove or soften it.
Had to carefully sand it off. Top skirt cracked in several places,
and a lot of work needed on the legs.
Stripped, sanded, repaired, and stained with a custom mixed color
my wife wanted. Two coats of oil based poly, four coats on the top.
Got a lot of help from the net, this group, books, other
woodworking friends. Thank you all.
Came out better than I expected, and most important my wife is
happy.

This is what I started with.
On Wed, 11 Apr 2007 09:21:50 -0400, "Bigpole" wrote:

Very nice work. Could you post a before picture?
Ted
"BumHead" wrote in message
.. .
Finally done repairing and refinishing a table passed down to my wife
from her grandmother. Took almost a year. Supposedly it is over 100
years old and was in bad shape.
All oak. Top pieces tongue and grove held together with probably
animinal hide glue. It was coming apart and the old dried glue was
hard as rocks......and nothing I could find would remove or soften it.
Had to carefully sand it off. Top skirt cracked in several places,
and a lot of work needed on the legs.
Stripped, sanded, repaired, and stained with a custom mixed color
my wife wanted. Two coats of oil based poly, four coats on the top.
Got a lot of help from the net, this group, books, other
woodworking friends. Thank you all.
Came out better than I expected, and most important my wife is
happy.

Yep I was right. Very nice work.
Ted
"BumHead" wrote in message
...
This is what I started with.
On Wed, 11 Apr 2007 09:21:50 -0400, "Bigpole" wrote:

Very nice work. Could you post a before picture?
Ted
"BumHead" wrote in message
. ..
Finally done repairing and refinishing a table passed down to my wife
from her grandmother. Took almost a year. Supposedly it is over 100
years old and was in bad shape.
All oak. Top pieces tongue and grove held together with probably
animinal hide glue. It was coming apart and the old dried glue was
hard as rocks......and nothing I could find would remove or soften it.
Had to carefully sand it off. Top skirt cracked in several places,
and a lot of work needed on the legs.
Stripped, sanded, repaired, and stained with a custom mixed color
my wife wanted. Two coats of oil based poly, four coats on the top.
Got a lot of help from the net, this group, books, other
woodworking friends. Thank you all.
Came out better than I expected, and most important my wife is
happy.

The discoloration, black marks, ect is from water leching out of
plants her grandmother had on the table.
On Wed, 11 Apr 2007 09:21:50 -0400, "Bigpole" wrote:

Very nice work. Could you post a before picture?
Ted
"BumHead" wrote in message
.. .
Finally done repairing and refinishing a table passed down to my wife
from her grandmother. Took almost a year. Supposedly it is over 100
years old and was in bad shape.
All oak. Top pieces tongue and grove held together with probably
animinal hide glue. It was coming apart and the old dried glue was
hard as rocks......and nothing I could find would remove or soften it.
Had to carefully sand it off. Top skirt cracked in several places,
and a lot of work needed on the legs.
Stripped, sanded, repaired, and stained with a custom mixed color
my wife wanted. Two coats of oil based poly, four coats on the top.
Got a lot of help from the net, this group, books, other
woodworking friends. Thank you all.
Came out better than I expected, and most important my wife is
happy.

I have seen some criticisms from a few people in response to someone taking
an extremely old item and refurbishing it to be beautiful and usable again.
Perhaps they are correct in terms of collecting rare and ancient items just
because of their antiquity. However, I personally approve of your choice in
restoring a family heirloom to its original beauty and usefulness. If I may
say so, it looks to me like you made it even more beautiful than it was in
the beginning!

Excellent work, sir. I wish my work was as beautiful as yours.

"BumHead" wrote in message
...
Finally done repairing and refinishing a table passed down to my wife
from her grandmother. Took almost a year. Supposedly it is over 100
years old and was in bad shape.
All oak. Top pieces tongue and grove held together with probably
animinal hide glue. It was coming apart and the old dried glue was
hard as rocks......and nothing I could find would remove or soften it.
Had to carefully sand it off. Top skirt cracked in several places,
and a lot of work needed on the legs.
Stripped, sanded, repaired, and stained with a custom mixed color
my wife wanted. Two coats of oil based poly, four coats on the top.
Got a lot of help from the net, this group, books, other
woodworking friends. Thank you all.
Came out better than I expected, and most important my wife is
happy.