Restoring a Desk

[Shane Watson]

Ok, theres a heap of pics here - so be patient for them all to load all 40 of em infact...

Heres where we start. Its an old Silky-oak Dressor but the mirror was removed many many years ago and so it was then used as a desk. Now its intended use will be a hall table. But for the purpose of this demo I will refer to it as a desk.



As usual I start by taking of all the hardware. Easily there is only two handles to remove.



Then I can start to remove all the easily removable componants such as the drawers and top etc.



Now this piece has been looked after well over the years, but it is really in need of some major repair work. All the joints are coming apart. In fact all that was holding the carcus together was the top.



A lot of people would try to force glue into the joints and clamp them hoping that'll do the job. Fact is once the top is screwed back down it will be fine, but thats not how I do things. So......Well I'll let the picture tell you whats next



Thats right I am fully dismantling it. This way all joints can be properly treated and they will go back together perfectly as if it were just built. But looks like someone figured at some stage that it needed some bigger nails to help hold it all together....




And in a matter of minutes I am left with a neat pile of timber..



Now having the desk dismantled really makes it easier to do any repairs that may need to be done.



Basically I just follow my usual procedure from here. The top is made from two boards edge jointed. The joint has come apart so it needs to be rejointed.



You do have to be careful when breaking this type of joint, but as it had come apart a fair distance I could easily see what I would or wouldn't damage by simply breaking the joint apart.



Then its a fairly simple procedure of running the two edges over the planer to take a very small slice to ensure another nice tight joint.



Redrill the dowels



Then mix some adhesive....BUT make sure you check your useby dates! They are there for a reason...



And it dosn't take long to bring the two edges back together and clamp them up to dry overnight. I ended up using an epoxy for the adhesive. Usually I would have used AV203 urea-formeldahyde - but as your saw, it wasn't any good...



While I am in the repair mood its time to turn my attention to the drawers. As you can see the runners are badly worn and need something doing to them.



So the drawers come apart and I rip the drawer sides by just enough to take the hollow out of the bottom edge.



The its a simple matter of cutting a strip of matching timber (pine) and gluing it to the base of the drawer side to build it back up.



before I go too far I sand the top edge which has a 'moulded' edge. This is done by hand. It dosn't take long at all.



Now I can turn my attention to removing the old finish on the rest. As I did in the radiogram refinish I will sand the old finish. As the desk is in pieces I can put them all through my stroke sander and sand the old finish off in no time.



After that I go over everything with the orbital quickly.



now I can turn my attention to rebuilding the desk. First thing to do is re-drill any dowels that may have been broken.



Then I need to clean up the joint faces to remove all the dirt and old glue etc. I tend to use a very sharp chisel for this, but its not the really the recommended method.



Now I have to follow the assymbly method that would have been used. Obviously the sides need to brought together with some nice adhesive.



Get the sides in clamps and leave them to dry overnight.



While the sides are drying I can rebuild the drawers.



I need to trim the runners up a little to 'tune' the runner so it won't be to high or too low.



Next stage is to bring the sides together.



Now here we need to make sure that things are all nice and square. Mind you they weren't all built square.



Now I can fill in the missing gaps.



Then its a matter of refitting the drawer runners & guides.



And lets not forget all the little decorative brackets.



Before long the desk has been fully rebuilt & all the little holes etc have been filled with a little bit of wood filler.



And not wanting to forget the drawers, but the stops need to be fitted to they don't slide through and hit the back.



a quick go over to check everything and another quick sand to remove excess filler etc and we have the desk prep'd & ready for re-finishing.



Firstly I need to apply a seal coat. Quite simply shellac.



And in no time flat the first coat has been applied and left to dry overnight.



A quick light sand and I am ready to continue refinishing- which I won't go into details off.



Once I have finished with the finishing process I can refit the top etc & also the drawer handles which I gave a quick clean.



And in under a week the job is done and looking quite good if I do say so myself! Ok the job was done in a week, but it wasn't worked on all day everyday.



And heres the before pic again to compare!



Well there you go. I have been very brief with my descriptions mainly because its after my bedtime but I think the pics will give you a good indication on what I did.

Cheers!






------------------
Shane Watson..

Combine Love & Skill & You Can Expect A Masterpiece! SO
Work like you don't need the money... Love like you've never been hurt...
Dance like nobodys watching...

[Marty Lott]

G'day Shane
Another damn fine restoration job! Now...go on, tell us how you finished it...surely it's not a trade secret! If it is I promise I won't tell.
I'm also curious of how long it took & how much you charged to do the job.
Cheers
Marty

[Shane Watson]

Hahaha sorry Marty, how I refinished this is a trade secret. Thats why I spent 4yrs of my life getting paid low wages (Actually only 3yrs - I got a 12mth early release from my apprenticeship because my work is so damn good! true story)

Seriously though theres no secret to finishing - except doing the right amount of prep.

Now all I did was apply a few coats of shellac sanding inbetween - not a french polished finish though.

Time frame? Can't really remember, but probably 5-7hrs at the most.

Price? Well, thats between me & my client

[Zsteve]

Nice restoration job Shane,
But what about the patina of the old desk? its now gone, - although maybe that wasn't a concern of the client?

[Shane Watson]

What patina? If I thought there was somthing there to salavge I would have.