Antique repair

Wow, the repair came out looking great, Rick. Amazing what a little patience and a few sharp tools can do, huh?

No suggestions on the brass hardware question. Maybe Dave Hawksford will see this and have some ideas.

Rick, I wouldn't do a thing to the hardware.

Another update and a new question

I finished the drawer and thought I'd post a photo of it. Well, it is almost finished. I ordered a vacuum press kit from Veneersupplies.com and the parts will be here tomorrow. I've already completed most of the construction so the final assembly won't take long. I have to laminate two pieces of ply together and rabbet 3 sides to fit in the dado in the front and sides because the original bottom was true 1/4" unlike today’s 1/4" ply. I just assembled it temporarily to show what it will look like when finished. Anyway, I digress. My new problem is how to fill the gouge in the side shown in the second photo. I can't take the leg/side off to fix it because the applied carvings would crack because they run from top to bottom. Again, any suggestions will be welcomed.

It looks to me like you're doing a VG job so far.

That gouge can be repaired very much like you did the drawer corners. Using a bench chisel, enlarge it and square it off. What you're trying for (IMO) is a rectangular trench tapering from 0 depth at the top to about 1/8" depth at the bottom - whatever it takes to get a good flat glue surface, no need to make it perfect inside there.

You can glue a wedge-shaped patch into that trench, after fitting it carefully, and trim it with chisels & files until it's flush. Take care to keep the grain orientation as near parallel to the finished surface as possible - that'll help keep your chisel work from diving into the new wedge (if it does, you get to start this one over).

When you're filing, wrap the far end of the file with one layer of brown paper; that'll help keep you from scuffing & scratching the old wood farther inside the cabinet.

As to the brass, provided you haven't finished that yet and still want to knock some of the old patina off... look for a product named "Brasso" in the grocery store. It'll be really familiar to those with military background. Brasso cleans up brass very nicely. It doesn't work "instantly" or anything, meaning you get plenty of control over how much cleaning it does. It DOES take some elbow work. When the patina gets to where you want it, rinse that finding in clear VERY HOT water to clean the remaining Brasso off the surface so it stops working.

Thanks, Tim, I'll try your suggestion. I'm a Viet Nam vet so I'm quite familiar with Brasso and have a supply on hand already. Someone suggested just using a wax polish for the hinges first to clean them and that it would just clean and not remove the patina. I may try that first.

Tim, I was able to cut a piece to fit the chip and after I glue, sand and stain it I'll post a picture. Before I glue it, however, I need to stabilize the whole piece first. Both sides are going to require re-gluing. Fortunately, I have some syringes to inject glue into the joints.

Nice repair Rick.

Yes, very nice repair, neat old piece of furniture. I can't remember who said it was a green man (martian?) but I went back and saw the face! Constantly learning from you folks! Would love to see Larry reproduce this, Stu could join in with his carver and get the carving completed, quite the worldly piece then!!!

Finally finished!

Well, it took me a while (lots of projects in between) but it is finally finished. I probably should have made more in progress photos but with all the other tasks I had around the house including a near flood from unusually heavy rains this year I neglected that task.

The hinge was especially tricky. The end that attaches to the door was threaded into the wood by creating threads in the wood itself. In order to reinforce it I cut some squares of brass sheeting, drilled a hole, chemically aged them and epoxyed them in order to support the wood. By the way, the chair in the photo was also a project. It was in such bad shape I had to completely disassemble it, sand, re-glue and stain it as well. Anyway here it is.

looks like it turned out well.. lots of neat details in that piece

Rick, I'm late to your party, just wanted to say you did a nice job on the repairs. And welcome to Family Woodworking.

I missed the end result, too. Spectacular repair job on an awesome piece of furniture.

Wow that looks great!

Thanks, all. Ken I appreciate your welcome but I've been a member since January 2007, I just haven't posted as much as I should have given all my interests. I'm just spread too thin.

Wow just catching up it came out real good. Well done Rick. Bet the wifes happy.

Vaughn McMillan said:

Wow, the repair came out looking great, Rick. Amazing what a little patience and a few sharp tools can do, huh?

No suggestions on the brass hardware question. Maybe Dave Hawksford will see this and have some ideas.

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As far as brass on old pieces I usually leave them alone. But if you want to clean them up use Sudsy Ammonia. Let it sit in the solution 24 HRS and clean with a terry cloth rag. But only if it is solid brass. Other wise leave it along or you can spray paint with brass paint.

Dave Hawksford said:

As far as brass on old pieces I usually leave them alone. But if you want to clean them up use Sudsy Ammonia. Let it sit in the solution 24 HRS and clean with a terry cloth rag. But only if it is solid brass. Other wise leave it along or you can spray paint with brass paint.

Click to expand...

I decided not to do much cleaning of the brass for fear of removing the patina. I just wiped them down and reinstalled the pieces.

That's the right way to do it. If the piece is worth anything [period furniture] I will not strip it unless it has been stripped before. I will clean with my solution and re=polish [french Polish] and then wax.