Chinese tea table resurrection

[fletty]

Partly driven by the need for social isolation ( = COMPULSORY shed time) , I am about to start restoration of this Chinese tea (or psaltery) table...

E13BDCEF-93BB-4298-96E7-0367F2DDC5C1.jpeg

It was a street find and so there will be no client wondering when, or even IF, it will be finished?
It has been horrifically treated by painting the top with what I suspect to be some kind of two-pack epoxy and the gaps (sort of) filled with bog!

64A5C77F-B161-4EA1-9D86-7F625D16C9F0.jpeg F6398CD8-EC53-4C2E-BDC9-15FD048B0754.jpeg

I suspect the construction will be similar to this illustration from my bible (Chinese Domestic Furniture by Gustav Ecke),

B7EA9557-D05A-489B-BEA6-D117E35CC9D8.jpeg

.....and I am hoping I can get away with making only a new top outer frame.

[Austin_Turner]

The last person to try to save it was a butcher, not a surgeon!

[fletty]

The last person to try to save it was a butcher, not a surgeon!

.... possibly a panelbeater?

[Simplicity]

.... possibly a panelbeater?

Excuse me,I resent that comment,not all us panel beaters were bog masters.

(Tho some are masters at it )

Cheers Matt

[Lappa]

Its really sad when you seen an item like that neglected and abused. However, when you "right the wrong" and bring it back to its former glory, there is a great deal of satisfaction.

I felt the same about the clock that was left to rot in sheds and garages.

0E4D4B4D-366A-4E8B-965E-455742B32334.jpeg 03B01D8C-0CF8-449A-B789-30F030FFF0F1.jpeg

Please show the restoration in steps

[fletty]

Its really sad when you seen an item like that neglected and abused. However, when you "right the wrong" and bring it back to its former glory, there is a great deal of satisfaction.

I felt the same about the clock that was left to rot in sheds and garages.

03B01D8C-0CF8-449A-B789-30F030FFF0F1.jpeg

Please show the restoration in steps

Thanks Lap’, that is a stunning resurrection! Can you tell us the story?

[wheelinround]

.... possibly a panelbeater?

Wash your mouth out

Sent from my SM-T580 using Tapatalk

[Acco]

Thanks Lap’, that is a stunning resurrection! Can you tell us the story?

Friesan Clock restoration

[crowie]

Nothing better than enjoying shed time....

I'm looking forward to seeing your patient craftsmanship being this old piece back to life Alan...

Cheers, Peter

[fletty]

Friesan Clock restoration

Wow Peter, how on Earth did I miss this? Wonderful workmanship and perseverance. A lovely, lovely restoration!
fletty

[woodhutt]

Fletty ,that should be a stunner when finished! Hope you'll post a step-by-step. Good luck, Pete

[fletty]

Thank you for the flattering requests for a WIP. I lived and worked in China for a couple of years and so developed a bit of knowledge and a lot of respect for Chinese furniture design. I also managed to buy, and bring home, quite a bit of it before the Chinese themselves started again to respect their own furniture heritage and the prices went up exponentially.
There is a lot of very good Chinese furniture in Australia. Some of it imported and a lot of it made here by Chinese craftsmen who came here in the 19th Century searching for gold. Having my tiny bit of knowledge is potentially a dangerous thing and I may have hit one of these dangerous moments? As I said at the beginning, this was a street-find and I may have inferred that this gave me more confidence to restore it but I have been jolted in to reality because I have discovered that this is no ordinary piece. I AM going to restore it but I MIGHT now take more caution!
I have a restoration method in mind and to confirm the method, I have done a few checks. A ‘metho test’ has confirmed that the original finish is shellac and bee’s wax, the top has been coated with some bullet-proof clear, gloss epoxy but the revelation (and concern?) is that the intricate inlay is not timber but, at the very least, bone. I don’t even want to investigate if it might be ivory!

4B197B27-BD91-465E-8560-6EDCD984C590.jpeg AF74E332-7C1C-4110-92AB-13046A217C52.jpeg

The low light photo also shows that the inlay is in heavy relief....

6FFAE09B-11B8-4277-80EC-63898CFFB618.jpegJ

..... and so sanding the epoxy off is out of the question. A method I have used successfully before is to ‘mute’ the glossy epoxy look and feel by cutting it back with our Benevolent Dictator’s cutting polish and a trial has given me an encouraging result. Unfortunately, the epoxy and ‘bog’ have trapped the top pieces of the table together so I can’t just locate the pins and remove them to free the top so I will have to cut the top out but, given that my proposed method requires a new top frame, that shouldn’t cause a problem..........

[woodhutt]

Fletty, looks like you might have to accept minimal work on the centre piece - just a general clean up - but, IMHO, that's good. After all, if it was an Old Master painting you wouldn't strip it back to the canvas . Leaving the centre piece relatively untouched and just refurbishing the surround might add to the interest of the finished piece, rather like an old painting put into a new and sympathetic frame. I'll be following with interest. Cheers, Pete

[fletty]

Fletty, looks like you might have to accept minimal work on the centre piece - just a general clean up - but, IMHO, that's good. After all, if it was an Old Master painting you wouldn't strip it back to the canvas . Leaving the centre piece relatively untouched and just refurbishing the surround might add to the interest of the finished piece, rather like an old painting put into a new and sympathetic frame. I'll be following with interest. Cheers, Pete

Thanks Pete, yes I think you’re right about the inlayed top. The UBeaut cutting polish has done a good job of cutting back the gloss and making it look less like it has been sealed inside a clear plastic bag so I’ll take that. I am bit intrigued however about what appears to be a few much earlier repairs.....

A53118F5-06DC-4599-A521-181FCB292B23.jpg

...... which look like they may have been done by the original hand? If I have time, and Covid-19 seems to have given me that, I might see how easy it is to scalpel out the repairs and replace with a timber filler. I was shown in China how to grind up bone, mix it with shellac and trowel it into a carved surface and I think this may be the same?
Now that our new isolations have been confirmed and we have been advised that Bundaberg Rum are now making hand sanitiser, I intend to have some quality time on the table ...... with VERY clean hands!

[woodhutt]

This Bundaberg hand sanitizer. Is it to be taken internally or externally"?
Pete