Antique Repair - Huon Pine

[Shedhand]

G'day all. I'm repairing a drawer from an antique bird's eye Huon pine dresser. Its about 150 years old. Luckily I had some pieces of the same species of Huon pine. There was a large chunk - about 6" x 1 1/2" broken from the top left hand face of the drawer front. I have hand carved (with my beautiful Jap chisels) a piece which fits perfectly. the next step is to finish the repair so that the colour matches the rest of the drawer.

I've read Neil's excellent book on polishing but can't find any reference to matching original antique finishes. I assume the existing finish on the drawer is French Polish which I can do pretty well. With age, the colour, as expected, has turned to a burnt honey, almost as dark as golden syrup, if you can picture that and I'd like some advice from any "Master Polishers" or antique restorers out there. This is a love job but I want to make a good fist of it as its my first effort at antique restoration. I don't want to strip the whole thing back and destroy the beautiful patina of age as that will destroy its appearance and value (about 30K). I'm not concerned that the repair will be visible - that's unavoidable as its on the drawer front - but I'd like the colour to be matched as best as I can achieve.

If I can prise the camera out of swmbo's hands I'll post a pic of the drawer later.

Any suggestions (especially from Neil) would be really appreciated.

Cheers and happy new year.

[astrid]

Hi,
I'm by no means a "master restorer"
But i am a restorer and do a pretty decent job
If your piece is worth a lot, then take it to a good reputable restorer to re finish. I dont mess with stuff thats beyond my skills and neither should you.
Having said that you can go two ways .
1 colour the repaird piece and try to match the original FP.
Test the colour on a scrap of your new huon.
You can age some timber by painting on washing soda, this can slightly
darken the timber to match the original, rinse off, let it dry and sand back.
this is going to be hard if you have already fitted the missing piece.
then use FP to match it in.

downside is you wont be able to conceal the polished patch.

2 next option is, strip off old polish off whole drawer
colour new piece as described then re polish.
this is easier to achieve depending on how good you colour matching skills are and how good you are at applying shellac.

I would personally go option 2.

astrid

[Brickie]

Add some tint to Blond shellac, test it on another piece first.

[Shedhand]

Thanks for that guys. I'll try the Blond Shellac first as I have some of it. Just haveto figure what to use as the tint. coffee or tea maybe?

[Brickie]

Thanks for that guys. I'll try the Blond Shellac first as I have some of it. Just haveto figure what to use as the tint. coffee or tea maybe?

Theres a mob that make tints cant think of their name and its too hot to go out to the shed...

Try a light oak tint

[ptc]

a lot of sun light might do it.

[ubeaut]

ptc'sidea isn't all that silly. I would at all costs avoid staining it with anything more than sunlight and good old fashioned brown shellac. Bare in mind it is going to darken quite dramatcally over the next 12 mth anyway so staining or colour matching inthis case would end up disasterous.

My preference if toy intend to colour match woulf be to strp ans sand the whole drawer front then finish it with ordinary shellac and wait for nature to take its course.

Even better still if the piece is worth as much as you said it might be best to get someone in the know to look at it and advise you as to your best course of action. Anything less then a professional repair could devalue the piece dramatically.

Cheers - Neil

[Shedhand]

Thanks all. I have no idea where the piece of furniture is situated in the home so I can only guess that it wouldn't see much sunlight.

I gave it a few coats of very diluted Ubeaut Shellac just to protect the surface until the owner can get it to a genuine restorer for final finishing. It is a valuable piece so I'm not going to try and match the finish.

Here's some pics. You can clearly see the new piece of birds eye Huon pine (its the lighter chunk).Attachment 63457 It was a very jagged break - like it was smashed with something.
Attachment 63459


The other piece is small blackwood hall table made in 1914. Attachment 63458The two piece base and the top are the only original pieces. My grandfather made the little feet and turned the pedestal in the early 60's. My mother had it until her death earlier this month. She was a heavy smoker and a large metal ashtray used to sit in the middle. Over the years the blackwood underneath dried out and charred. I took it off with the Festool ES150 and grits from 80 to 2000. Finished it with Ubeaut Wax and EEE Cream. Came up a treat considering the abuse it has had.Attachment 63460
Sorry, should have dusted the table off.

[astrid]

[quote=Shedhand;652626]


I gave it a few coats of very diluted Ubeaut Shellac just to protect the surface until the owner can get it to a genuine restorer for final finishing. It is a valuable piece so I'm not going to try andf match the finish.


i am relieved

astrid

[Shedhand]

hmm..Neil must be foolin' with the system. Still can't post pics. Noticed a bit of script on one of the forum pages so maybe he is.

[MacS]

Just passing this on, as I think this has been mentioned.

Shelllac, comes in many colors, so does varnishes, in fact most fine restorers actually "age" their coatings in bottles, that are allowed to face the sun and get so many hours of rays a day.

These aged coatings are used to match damage antiques.

Attached are some Shellacs and their colors. I use this chart with permission.

MacS

[ubeaut]

Attachment 63428

Not playing..... Honest. All pics should up load easily. Above test 45K uploaded instantly. Sorry problem's most likely at your end.

Cheers - Neil

[Shedhand]

OK. whatever was loose last night has fixed itself <shrugs>.

Pictures now in the post #8.

Comments welcome. Thanks for the very useful tip MacS
</shrugs>

[MacS]

Hi Shedland,

Thanks for the compliment.

That is a very good wood repair, now all it needs is to be coloured in.

Have you ever heard of finger colouring, or padding with colour? If not, you should spend the time learning how its done. That is a 10 minute colouring repair, that you could have done yourself to completed the repair and you could have made some extra dollars doing it..

I attached a photo showing the colouring process, if your interested you can e-mail me, I have an article that I wrote about this subject.

Good Luck.

MacS

[Shedhand]

Hi Shedland,

Thanks for the compliment.

That is a very good wood repair, now all it needs is to be coloured in.

Have you ever heard of finger colouring, or padding with colour? If not, you should spend the time learning how its done. That is a 10 minute colouring repair, that you could have done yourself to completed the repair and you could have made some extra dollars doing it..

I attached a photo showing the colouring process, if your interested you can e-mail me, I have an article that I wrote about this subject.

Good Luck.

MacS

G'day Mac. Thanks for the compliment re the wood repair. Finger colour matching looks an interesting exercise (and worthwhile learning). My wife just told me she knows a bloke who restores piano finishes so I'll go visit him and see if he'll impart some of his expertise. Is the Zinnzer Shellac a US Company or just a generic brand name? If you're looking at this post Neil, are the shellacs that Mac has listed in the Zinnzer chart available in Oz or through you?

Cheers