Busted up mahogany writing box

[Wood Collector]

The titebond hide glues shelf life starts from the date of manufacture so some people were complaining that it was 2 or more months old.

[RedShirtGuy]

Last Tuesday I ordered a small bottle (237ml) of the Titebond hide glue just for this project and it finally arrived today.
The expiry date is 28/10/2016 so I'm only going to get about 5 months use out of it. What a rip off!

Thankfully the deadline of this project is in September so that will be fine, but now I feel like I need to find other things to stick together with the remaining 200ml or so.

/me goes looking for a cat and a ceiling



(More actual progress reports next week after I've finished my current table refinishing job.)

[Xanthorrhoeas]

Yes, that happened to me with the first bottle that I bought too. However, I kept mine in the refrigerator (NOT freezer) and it was still working fine 12 months later when I finished it (and six months past its stated use-by date). Having had that experience I have not been too worried with the current bottle.

[RedShirtGuy]

I haven't forgotten this project and thanks for the glue/fridge idea.

I've still been doing a tiny little bit of clean up work on it, but time is being a dog and I've not been able to get to it much.

The idea of it being a birthday present in a couple of weeks has been given up on

One of the specific problems has been soft/rusted/broken screws. Extractors haven't helped so I'm looking at drilling and plugging the problems.

I'm extremely disappointed but I know that I'll get there eventually...or die of old age first

[Xanthorrhoeas]

Yes, indeed, those absolutely frozen screws are a real pain. I have a lovely little antique box with a carcase of cedar and pine with a 3mm thick parquetry of Blackwood and Huon Pine 'veneered' outside surface. Pinhole borers discovered the pine components years ago, maybe because the box was kept somewhere damp. The result was loss of structural integrity in the pine components and that the hinge screws were corroded in place. it took me a long time to decide that I had to just force them/break them out and replace them because I like to keep as much of an item original as I can. The box is one of my long-term projects because, although it is small and relatively unimportant, it provides me with significant challenges that i am still learning how to overcome (like how to sympathetically replace the show edges of worm-eaten pine {after I have 'repaired' most of it with an epoxy strengthener} because it has be carefully inserted behind the parquetry veneer but still strong enough for hinges).

Just stick at it, take your time. A rushed job is a job that you will regret. Some projects take a long time but the reward is great. It is a bit like that saying about high cost, high quality items - you will be enjoying the quality long after the pain of price is forgotten.