Silky oak side board rescue out of order

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I decided recently that I just need to get my stripping and finishing skills up to speed first so this is one of my practice projects. It has obviously been left to the elements and came with a broken leg and anther broken foot. It sort of reflects me these days I have been practising my scraping on it wit a new scraper type (pretty happy to finally be improving this skill) then orbital sander followed by hand sanding. I run a few sanders that get connected to a Festool vacuum to keep the dust down (pity the hand sander didn't have a vacuum port ).

I also have been practising cutting and installing new runners on the drawers and this has been going well when I have the right nail gun ready. As some runners need heights that aren't readily purchased I have had to cut my own wood but know I need a safer way that hand a push stick. I was finally happy to use my #4 $20 plane for some smoothing and reduction of new runner materials.

For a temporary leg I took some recovered packing wood (pine). I cut to full height of the original leg and then cut out a corner lengthwise so that it looked like an "L" in section view. This was then nail gunned to the original broken leg. As fr the other broken ankle it's a temporary cut of wood under it. As I now have a cheap lathe (maybe too cheap when the time comes ) I'll look to rebuild replacement back legs later.

I'm not expecting great things from this but it has been some fun with the practising. Later I may actually pull it a apart to re-glue the dowels. For now I'm getting some badly needed practice and it will stop taking up workshop space. Next steps will be deciding to stain or not and then applying some satin poly (not good enough for me to spend time with French polishing ). I'll post more photo's as I progress.

Recovery_1.jpgRecovery_2.jpgRecovery_5.jpgRecovery_7.jpgRecovery_6.jpgRecovery_8.jpg
Top with front sanded and rear original mess
Front carcass with the temporary pine leg at rear left
Front with smaller drawers and one door. The plyboard on the front had to be removed as the original was far too deteriorated for my skills.
The stains in the top are causing me to think of finally using stain (haven't started learning this skill yet)
Drawer fronts show the grain I like showing off
Sorry it is upside down but I tried uploading several times and it kept flipping it. The bottom drawer need plyboard base added and then the runners in the carcass fixed.

It will be good to go back later and pull apart to re-glue.

Oh the sideboard cost me $20 which I thought was OK just for the wood and the pre-made drawers and doors which is how I look at these things at the start.

[truckjohn]

Thats a great project you have there - and some beautiful wood we just don't see much anymore since everything went to China...

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I so agree with you. I'm enjoying reconditioning old furniture with some amazing timber. I have another very large one I'm currently stripping of 2 layers of paint. This one has very minimal damage and when it is completed I hope to add a bookcase cabinet to the top for our library. Cheers

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Finally back to this piece with a second attempt to do the top with out the obvious marks.
01 top to sand.jpg
First attempt to hide the ring stains was using a stained Estapol but it didn't hide it at all so I started sanding back with the belt sander.
Top sanded 01.jpgTop sanded 02.jpg
Started with 80 on belt sander and finally the marks were gone without having to go too far. Then to orbital sanders with 120, then 240, onto 360, and some Mentholated spirits wiped over and finally 600. It certainly was smooth.
Top shellac 1st.jpg
(Sorry the picture flipped sideways) First layer of shellac rubbed in.
Top 6th shellac.jpg
This is 6th layer of shellac rubbed on. Very fine sand between layers to keep it all smooth. Really happy with the progress.
Top 8th shellac.jpg
Finally 8th layer of shellac but the humidity has changed so stopping for the night.
First priority with this piece was practising skills and second was recovering this for someone to use.

Earlier today I cut up some old ply-board from the back of a silky oak wardrobe that will be up-cycled to a display cabinet if I manage to get the layers of paint off .
Bought some new hinges but not happy with the doors as the seem to not was to stay closed. It's like they are spring loaded. I suspect they are not the same size in terms of width but not sure how this mattered.
I have found some old silky oak ply-board from another cupboard I pulled apart a long time ago and hopefully these can be sanded and reused for the doors on this unit.

[Xanthorrhoeas]

Yes, Northern Silky Oak can have some wonderful figure.

May I please encourage you, when working on old furniture, to avoid the polyurethane forever and stick to shellac? You do not need to French Polish if that is troubling you, as even a very fine lacquer brush with 'nasty' (personal opinion) orange flake shellac is better than poly IMHO. At least it is easily reversible and does not need to be sanded off. (Also, French Polishing is not really difficult and brown button shellac is much more forgiving because of its high wax content).

That is the same reason that I encourage all restoration projects to use hide glue. For one it adheres to old hide glue very well and better than any modern adhesive will. Second, it can be so easily reversed with hot water that one never needs to fear stuffing up - just reverse with hot water and try again - no other adhesive can do as well!

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Xanthorrhoeas,
I'm trying to keep with the shellac. This was my first try at the stained Estapol in desperation. I thought the stains were deep and was wanting to cover them but to be honest it hid the silky oak but still showed the stain
This side board was bought for materials but I'm now finding I may have enough skills to bring it back to life Still got to think about repair / replacing the broken leg and the other foot. I'm really happy with how this attempt on the use of shellac is going. Do you know where to buy the brown button shellac in Brisbane? I have a partner desk and swivel chair to be reconditioned in brown shellac.


Tonight I think I figured out what was wrong with the hinges. I think the originals must have been thicker. I may now need to create some filer behind the washer on the doors and find some longer screws. Any suggestions?

Tomorrow I will hopefully have my first try at hide gluing.

Thanks for the advice I do appreciate it.

Cheers,
Nick

[Xanthorrhoeas]

Hi Nick,

I buy my brown button shellac from Shines (shines.com.au) and have never had any problems with it. The hard buttons seem to last forever, which is just as well since I do not use much of it these days. As it is the raw form of the shellac the buttons contain a lot of rubbish that has to be filtered out, but you end up with a high-wax shellac that takes a great final wax (high-carnauba content wax furniture polish) really well. I do admit that this is just a personal opinion of mine - many others prefer the flakes or even the ready-made shellacs such as UBeaut polishes (and I do use the latter for some new items, just not for old furniture). The owner of these forums is much more knowledgeable than I am on the subject. I started using brown button shellac in restoring pre-1850s Australian cedar pieces because it gave the best match for the small patches I was doing, and have stuck with it for all old furniture.

By-the-way, what is the section size for the legs? I may have some square-section very old, dry, Northern Silky oak pieces that would suit. I have my NSO in storage for the most part so would have to travel to check. If you can find (or I have) suitable square section but you can't turn them yourself (or get someone else to do it) you could use square section for the rear legs - there is historical precedent for different shaped front and back legs so turned front legs and square back legs might work for you. A good, long scarf joint to the original corner post/leg should be strong enough.

My exhortations about using hide glue do not extend to new structural joins btw, only for re-gluing old joints that were originally made with hide glue. It's still true that hide glue gives a good strong joint and has the advantage of reversibility, but it may be (I'm lacking scientific evidence here) that a modern high-strength pva like Titebond III could give a stronger and more secure leg join for instance - as long as your woodworking skills are up to making a perfect join first time as there is no reversing such a joint.

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Hi Xanthorrhoeas,

"Shines (shines.com.au)" excellent, thank you.

I started using brown button shellac in restoring pre-1850s Australian cedar pieces because it gave the best match for the small patches I was doing, and have stuck with it for all old furniture. I need to develop this skill as I have a lot that just need patches fixed.

I have old bed heads saved for the wood and now I know about long scarf joints I can start experimenting. Totally agree about the back legs becoming straight legs (things can happen faster this way

THanks,
Nick

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The top surface is done for me ... I hope. It has been cut and waxed with the best products I have used to date.
Back to paid work and still a shed to complete with some saws to clean.

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[Xanthorrhoeas]

Yes, that top is looking good. I use those UBeaut products too, though I don't usually try for such a high shine level - but that is because I have been working on much older pieces where a high shine would look out of place. The ultra-shine certainly works a treat on the lathe.
David

BTW the mantra sometimes seen about waxing furniture to "feed" it is a false one. Timber doesn't need 'feeding' - it is dead material, it needs protecting because it is susceptible to changes in moisture content.

[truckjohn]

That's very beautiful - a fine job done on finishing that top... Whatever you are doing - keep doing it...

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These are the pieces that start as low value learn and practice pieces that I allow myself to just go with blonde shellac and show off the grain. High value pieces like my vintage partner's desk have to be done with the original materials and colours hiding the grain.

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Still building up layers of shellac on the drawers for the time being but looking ahead I realised I forgot to sort out the trimmings. This is where I need help as I don't even know what they are called let alone how to recondition, install and protect. Can anyoneIMG_1316.jpg tell me what these are called? Can you still get them? How could I recondition them without damaging them? How to reinstall on the door panels again?
Cheers,
Nick

[auscab]

Ive never seen it for sale that I can remember . Though some hobby outlets sometimes have some odd stuff like this for sale . Making whats missing would be faster than searching I think . Ive had to make similar runs of beading that comes off earlier furniture from the 1820s in restoration of Cedar or Mahogany . That's called knulling or a knulled decoration . Its turned like yours is but its finished as a quad or half round bead then applied into a rebate or a face if its half round. If you google Knulled you can see English stuff like this .
Regency Rosewood Cabinet by William Trotter (c. 1810 Scotland) by WILLIAM TROTTER OF EDINBURGH (1772-1833) from Georgian Antiques - The UK's Premier Antiques Portal

If you Google Nulling you get this sort of thing . different period and use with a slight change to the name .

Coffers & Boxes - Robin Wheatley Antiques Early Oak, Period Oak and Antique Oak furniture

Ive looked in a few of my books and cant pin your type down probably because its not normally applied as a round bead like yours except for the period your piece comes from that I can think of ATM. A similar shape to yours , but its flat at the back or carved into ancient stone work shows up with a google of Egg and Dart Nulling , some of the images show it under the Egg and dart
https://www.google.com.au/search?q=E...w=1120&bih=571

Or see under some of these ones E and D Knulling
https://www.google.com.au/search?biw....0.-Wc1yiqDMjo


If you can find a dowel the same size as what you have you may be able to tweak it with a file to work for you . Ive done the half or quad on a lathe and newspaper glued in between for the quad or half for proper separation . I think the easiest way to reproduce what you have though may be to plane a round dowel up and cut the balls in with the right carving chisel . That's a skilled operation and needs some specialized tools, it would give nice clean cut results . A lathe is a bit hard for such thin work unless its kept short.

As far as reconditioning whats remaining , Id just see what happens with a scrub down with metho and steel wool to strip the old finish and re polish from that .

I can see on your original the iron oxide staining where it was held on with thin Brads (small nails). A head would be cut off one brad and then placed in a hand drill or small electric drill. The bead would be drilled first , then put in place and re drilled through the first holes into what its being fitted to. Then it would be probably glued and nailed on with the heads cut off the nails ( Brads ) If its all finished some finish would probably need to be taken off . Or else just nail it on . Which is not very satisfactory. Once this sort of thing becomes loose it catches and snaps off getting caught on things like woolen jumpers .

Rob

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Thanks Rob for that great information but gees you got me excited seeing those great antiques

Can you suggest any book titles to help me with my education?

Cheers,
Nick