Yet another chest restoration

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I’ve found a buyer for this little Cedar chest of drawers, so it’s time to get started on it.
Late 1800’s. Original knobs with mother of pearl centres. The locks are all there and all work.

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There’s some nice Cedar under all the old stain and dust.

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The original bun feet are missing, and have been replaced with some lovely pine blocks. I’ll turn some new feet and add the foot blocks.

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The top has an old split and has been filled with putty. I’ll have to cut this section out, joint the boards and add a new section at the back to make up for the removed piece.

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The front corners were loose and the seams were filled with putty. They need to be removed and cleaned and made to fit properly. They are just attached with glue blocks.

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The case runners were shot.

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I was able to pry them out of the case, and I’ve made new ones out of Brush Box. They should last a thousand years

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The new bun feet have been turned, stained and given a couple of coats of shellac. In this picture they are being tested for fit in a strip of Cedar that will be cut and shaped into foot blocks later.

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I’ve fixed the split in the top and glued in a new section. It just needs to be cleaned now. I’ll nail it on the case before I do this. You can see a couple of sets of holes in the top that I discovered after digging out some putty. It looks like the chest was originally a dutchess, or had a mirror arrangement fitted. It’s probably more useful as a chest (a lot of dutchesses met the same fate).


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The next part is to tweak the drawer runners to fit the case. I also need to add side runners and drawer stops.
Then it's time to polish and wax.

I'll post some more pics when I'm done (unless you tell me to stop )

Cheers all,
Stu

[Horsecroft88]

First off Stu, as ever, no don't stop showing WIP pictures and talking of what needs to be done. A nice chest of drawers is always worth talking about. Once again, I can already picture how well this one will come up.

Looking forward to seeing more of what needs to be done and how you achieve that. Cheers Dave

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The drawers are pretty well done. They have a couple of coats of polish and have the runners built up (so that I can tweak them for a perfect fit).
Sorry for the terrible photos.

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Tonight I nailed on the top. I used a few dabs of hide glue as well. Nail heads were punched under.
I used a card scraper to clean up the glue lines on the top, and a block plane to soften the back edge.


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I'll wash down the top next and plug the holes with wax.

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I'm getting there.

I've planed off the drawer runners and the drawers are sitting nicely. I've also knocked the corners off the back of the runners to prevent snagging.

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Setting the drawer stops and gluing in the bun feet.

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I spent a while polishing this morning.

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And now it's starting to look like a chest of drawers.
I need to clean the knobs and keep polishing. Not too long now.

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[Horsecroft88]

Hi Stu, your chest of drawers restoration is looking really great, I suspect you might just pass me to the post in finishing yours off. It is really good to see a little bit more of Aussie cedar history being brought back to life. I am sure it will bring its new owner many years of pleasure and great use.

I was most interested in seeing the attention to detail both for how you shaped the mounting blocks for the bun feet and even the drawer stays. A nice touch.

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I was most interested in seeing the attention to detail both for how you shaped the mounting blocks for the bun feet and even the drawer stays. A nice touch.

Just about all of the old stops I've had to chisel off were shaped in a similar way and most of the mounting blocks mirror the shape of the bottom molding.

I'm down to the finer details now.
I normally like to try and rejuvenate the old knobs to retain a bit of patina. But these were very grubby and the old stain and polish was pickled.
I cleaned them right back, stained them with an oxide/metho mix, and started to polish them with shellac.
They are the normal 'imported from England' knobs, but after cleaning them, I think they may be Boxwood. Very posh knobs.

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[dinosour]

From a rooky, very nice job. I admire you patience and persitance.
I have my great grand fathers desk top secretariet, aust. Cedar, and trying to summon the courage to start a restoration.
keep up the good work and please plenty of photo's
cheers

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All finished!

Polished and buffed with wax.

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It's off to it's new home tomorrow night.

Thanks to all who had a look.

Cheers,
Stu
EDIT: Please ignore the Bloodhound in the last pic

[Horsecroft88]

I like very much how this chest also came up Stu. Its a real credit to you, and the attention to detail given in rescuing it.

Definitely good for at least another 150 years of enjoyment. The new owner is very fortunate.