Mahogany Extension Table Restoration

[auscab]

A few years back I was called to a house to look at and quote on restoring a Mahogany Extension Table and its matching 12 chairs.
I couldn't get over the quality of the thing as soon as I saw it .This was a solid Cuban Mahogany tight grained top, Dense heavy stuff, with matching legs, and rails of the more usual Brazilian or Honduras type Mahogany. The extension system had twin decent sized winding threads and the legs separated apart in the normal way to take more leaves but each end also wound out past the legs and cantilevered out from each end. A great way of taking some of the weight of the sliding rails in between the legs and giving such table a much longer life without wear and tear on the rails. I had never seen one of these in the flesh, Ive possibly seen scale drawings in the design books of similar tables.

The Top had its two ends and two leaves . Three leaves were missing . The top at both ends was loose where it screwed to the base with missing screws having been lost and remaining ones ready to fall out .

So the job was to clean and check the winding threads and all sliding rails. Repair some splits to the original tops. Plug the holes under the top and re fix the two ends down. Make and fit three leaves matching them to the rest . Wash of the original shellac on the original tops if it needed it, and re french polish the old and the new together so they match. lightly rub back the base and legs and re polish. Take apart and re glue 12 chairs where needed, repair, and re upholster in clients fabric.

I didn't get a picture of the table or chairs before I started work so this is the amazing running parts that sit under the top. Better pictures coming soon .

Rob

[John.G]

My Grandmother had a table like that. Australian Red Cedar, seated 22 with chairs to match.circa 1890, english made, with two sideboards. Dad told me it was a fantastically made thing out of some really stunning timber. As you wound this one apart there were spare legs that slipped in with the leaves to carry the weight. Been in the family since day 1, or day 1 of the second homestead anyway which would date it to the 1880's or 90's.

Note all the past tenses.

Grandma got old. The table and chairs was moved from the house to the shearing shed to free up some room for some reason or other . (I dont remember the table out the dining room but i vaguely remember that great sprawling mudbrick house and why you'd want to make room is beyond me - place was huge). It stayed in the shearing shed under dust wraps for a few years because with formal entertaining out of style who needs a mile long table and 22 chairs to sweep around anyway, and grandma wanted it back but no-one there felt like making that kind of effort. Grandma offered the table to mum and dad but they were young and couldnt really afford to ship the thing from one end of the country to the other, and didnt really have that size house then either.

One winter Uncle Fullapiss cut it up for firewood. There is 1 leg left. I think my father tried to stick that leg some place or other where the sun dont shine because he and Uncle Fullapiss haven't spoken much since then.
Grandma rings dad up couple years back to tell him she'd seen a table exactly the same on Antiques Roadshow. Same pattern,same maker, but only 16 chairs not the full set. And not the sideboards as well. (Her sideboards are still intact)
Seventy Five Thousand, that would be pounds stirling old boy. I think Grandma tried to shove that last table leg up Uncle Fullapiss's ass too..

The moral being that if you perchance get offered custodianship of family heirlooms take it, lest the philistines have a cold winter. And as you gather with your family for Christmas, remember to love them and cherish them and that they next day is called Boxing Day for a reason.

Cheers, John

[cava]

and that they next day is called Boxing Day for a reason.

[auscab]

Chopped for the fire John ! These things happen . You would be P'sd off at the relation that did that !
Being Australian Red Cedar It would most probably like be Australian made. Our Red Cedar was was exported back to the UK But the UK Cabinet makers did not build much furniture from it. It was used as a secondary timber like backs and drawer sides and bottoms though. You can read where Some of the very first loads of wood taken back around 1788 and close to then were made into special pieces to show off the new then rare wood from the strange new continent on the other side of the planet that had huge hopping rats bouncing around. Havannah Cedar was used the same way in the UK, The Cigar Box stuff . You do see a lot of that And as you would probably know The Aussie Red is denser and darker Darker than that . A better Cedar I think . I did buy a Havannah Cedar, UK made (I'm certain), Kneehole desk made about 1740 . Which shows these normally used secondary timbers sometimes do turn up as polished pieces. It a Rare beauty of a thing and incredibly has its original polish job, un touched and most of its original plain plate handles. And I got it on Melbourne ebay!! I will show it off here one day . See if I have a pic for now.
Here it is . Havannah Cedar has the distinctively different smell as well as being more pale and light weight. The bracket feet are mostly gone but I have just enough of them and the molding above it to re build it the same as it was first done . Im wrapped about that because I don't like having to come up with what I think it should have had when its such a special piece. What amazed me was the original finish and handles for such an old piece.

Rob

[auscab]

You can see in the picture that the two end tops had colour added to darken them at some stage but the leaves and base had been left with the original faded colour . Not that it was very faded . It was nice . The arrows point out where there was a split running through the top and there was another up the other end running right through as well . Having to re glue these and with the later added colour meant it was better for me to repair then wash off the polish back to the wood . Just being careful not to sand into the wood and expose new raw dark Mahogany . All the running parts were worked on and the top splits repaired . Then the two ends tops were flipped and the holes plugged with same direction Mahogany grain plugs glued in with epoxy . The next problem is You can no longer just go and buy 1840s 50s slotted screws of any size you need easily . We have a large range of sizes and a lot of old ones but not of this larg a size . The large ones are about a 14 G 4 to 5 inch the smaller was somewhere around 2 " . The soloution to the problem was at Bunnings . Zinc coated Coach screws were the perfect shank and thread size . we just give them a quick soak in Hydrochloric acid and with a counter sink made up a heading plate . Each screw then had its bolt head re formed in the heading plate with a big hammer and some heat. Slots were re cut with a large machine cutting hack saw blade in a hand held hack saw . I then wire brushed them up nice before installing . The tops were carefully placed back and centered to a positioned so that we screwed into unused wood . With the top clamped down a long spike through the original rail holes and hit with a hammer gave us the new screw hole positions . The top is then taken off and drilled for the screw . A T bar welded to a screw is then used to tap the hard good quality Mahogany . This makes the job of screwing the top down lying on your back under a table much easier.

[auscab]

Once the tops were back on the three new leaves were made up . We are lucky today in having a plantation Mahogany that matches to Cuban Mahogany very well. I reckon they grew the Cuban type in the plantations it matches so good . Ive used it a number of times and had exact matches to the old wood. The Grain is just as close and the grain pattern matches well if not perfect sometimes, although most of the time it is light weight and soft, sometimes it is hard and heavy . Nothing from the timber yard was going to match the weight of this old growth top though . I went and had a pack laid out for me and chose carefully to get the boards with the best matching quarter figure . The look was the most important thing to go for .

First picture shows the three being fitted the way you do for extension tables . The alignment dowels are made to match first, and from then Its the opposite way to a normal table in that you work from the bottom or underside of the leaf and go up from there . You have to leave them High . Bring the two ends to fit one of them in between and plane the leaf down to exactly match the ends . Not a fraction past that . Do that to each leaf and if the alignment dowels have been done right you should end up with a table where any leaf can be placed in any order and the mouldings at the ends will line up perfect and the levels of the tops will be the same.

The Second picture is one of my Restoration favorites. This picture shows just how well the reaction stain Potassium Dichromate works. Even though is acutely and chronically harmful to health nothing is going to do a reaction stain so well as this when matching new mahogany to old. Which is why its recommended in plenty of furniture restoration books . Its Good for Red Cedar as well. The one untreated leaf on the right is yet to be done . An original leaf stripped of its polish is on its left , and the other two have been treated.
You can see the far left is still drying . Its done outside with gloves and a rag, a gentle breeze blowing past is good . I did a few test mixes first to get the strength right . The new leaves had to be wet down and sanded before using this to raise the grain. Forget to do that and your in trouble. You have to be careful with the dry boards when done as well . I normally wear a mask and give them a wipe down with metho on a rag all over. Then throw that in the bin , then give a light sand with fine paper. Mask still on . Once they are clean and sealed and the polish job is started they are safe.

Rob

[auscab]

Form this point its a Traditional French polish job . Button or Flake shellac , sometimes I mix some blonde with it . The bodying up of the polish job is a big amount of work. I was lucky to have two keen to learn cabinet makers working with me at the time of this job so the three of us were bodying , using shellac and pumice . Had the new leaves been not matching in colour after the Potassium Dichromate I could have stained further or adjusted the colour in with spirit colours in the early stages of bodying , None of that was needed though . Just shellac and a LOT of elbow grease . Three good bodys and then leave it settle a week is a good way to go before giving a little more to top up before taking on the finishing off. The finishing off is where the shellac is made thinner, the cutting back in between gets finer , linseed oil is used carefully . The last picture was how it was left to settle before the finishing off later.

Rob

[auscab]

The only chair pics during restoration are these. The break on the knee of this chair is a hard one to re glue . For starters its been reglued with hide glue, probably twice. Each time it broke the original line of the break gets more ragged and gappy . It had a drilled steel a strap for a brace and screws added. Not much choice in glues back then when it was repaired . All steel was removed and the glueing surfaces freshened up with a wire brush and chisel. The next tricky part was how to get the clamp to give straight 90 degree pressure to the break. Sticky tape to protect finish then a big slap of bog . Sellys Plastibond is the best . Just compare the weight of a tin of this to any other bog and forget the price if you want a quality bog. A shaped timber plate is then set at 90 degree to the break on each side of the leg . When its set , after a dry test run ,two pack epoxy with some oxide colours mixed in for the break, and clamp it together .
Taking the loose joints apart meant removing screws that didn't want to budge , they were rusted in place. I made these tools to transfer heat down the screw , heated them with the Oxy set ,worked every time . We clamped parts of the chair frame down into a jig to help get things apart . Cleaned the joints and re glued them with fresh hide . Screwed all corner blocks back in with fresh glue , re polished them and gave them to an upholsterer. They came back with silver speckled almost snake skin looking fabric on them . Not my choice and its just a cover

Rob

[auscab]

Final pictures.
All repaired and re polished , including the 12 chairs . Started in September 2011 finished and delivered back around the 23 rd December in time for Christmas .

Rob

[tony_A]

Really impressive Rob. Thanks for taking the time to write it up.

Tony

[auscab]

Really impressive Rob. Thanks for taking the time to write it up.

Tony

Thanks Tony .
It was a bit of a write up
Ive looked at the pictures for a few years knowing it would be a little bit of work .
I saved it for the holidays

Rob

[IanW]

Somehow I missed this at the time, but glad I saw it at last. Superlative job as always, Rob!

I've done a few (very few) minor repair jobs on heirlooms, but they were pretty simple and within my limited skills (& I made sure anything I did was reversible!). I wouldn't even dream about a job like that table - that is definitely one for a pro. (and there can't be many left with your sort of background?).

What tickles me most about canny old dogs like yourself is the way you find solutions to problems where most of us would just throw up our hands & say "Can't be done". Your cobbled-up screws were brilliant, especially re-forging the heads! As you say, it's getting harder & harder to buy slot-head screws in both steel & brass. There is a hardware shop here in Brissy that keeps a lot of that sort of stuff, but their brass screw supplier pulled out a few years ago. They've since found a substitute, but the quality ain't the same, the new screws are softer and the lands not as sharp & well-formed.

I hope the owner of that table was duly grateful for the amazing job & sings your praises loudly at the grand dinner parties it supports.....

Cheers,
Ian

[double.d]

Well done Rob, that is a beautiful restoration and well worth it at any cost.

Is rest your business and is that your shop? id like to know about the floor.

[woodsurfer]

What a great post, well documented, and lots of info and knowledge passed on , thanks Rob

[auscab]

Somehow I missed this at the time, but glad I saw it at last. Superlative job as always, Rob!

I've done a few (very few) minor repair jobs on heirlooms, but they were pretty simple and within my limited skills (& I made sure anything I did was reversible!). I wouldn't even dream about a job like that table - that is definitely one for a pro. (and there can't be many left with your sort of background?).

What tickles me most about canny old dogs like yourself is the way you find solutions to problems where most of us would just throw up our hands & say "Can't be done". Your cobbled-up screws were brilliant, especially re-forging the heads! As you say, it's getting harder & harder to buy slot-head screws in both steel & brass. There is a hardware shop here in Brissy that keeps a lot of that sort of stuff, but their brass screw supplier pulled out a few years ago. They've since found a substitute, but the quality ain't the same, the new screws are softer and the lands not as sharp & well-formed.

I hope the owner of that table was duly grateful for the amazing job & sings your praises loudly at the grand dinner parties it supports.....



Cheers,
Ian

Thank you Ian .
Its nice to see you enjoyed it .
Some of the people with my sort of background are getting harder to find. All the older ones are gone. I know a few just a little older than me who no longer work in the Antique trade and are out doing quality Handy Man / woodwork on the nice quality old weather board houses in the pricey suburbs. Its great catching up with them as I did two weeks ago when one came down to visit me. We had a great time talking about the good old days.

The screws that were needed and how I came to do that was because of a blacksmithing interest I have had going for a long time. An antique dealer mate pulled up at my workshop once and had a ute full of rusty steel that wast the contents of a Blacksmiths workshop from around 1900 . I bought the lot for about $300. Anvil, tools and forge and started a new hobby that night by melting recently finished beer stubbies in the forge. Nobody really wanted that sort of thing back in a 1980s. He had tried to sell it out of his ute for days with no takers. That was the start of me understanding all sorts of metal related things in a basic sort of way. Which led me to understanding machinery repairs and anything else metal related that I needed to make and keep the business moving along.

The clients , they were happy and still are . I did another repair job for them about five months back.
We always talk of that Mahogany table. It is a beauty.

Rob