Fixed It

Like an old house, you never where you're going to end up once you 'open the door'. We started out fixing the obvious broken leg in the second photo below, and before we knew it, we had both the back legs and the back splat off, which turned out to be a good thing. We were able to clean and reglue the joinery and the glue blocks and now I feel as if I can actually let the client sit in the chair when he gets it back. Construction was typical of the era, mortise and tenons on the seat rails and legs, a joint that solves the connection problem but also, over time typically develops weakness where the leg is mortised all the way through. It's not like new, but then again, I'm not either and I'm still going ....

We all just loved the face in the top rail

The obvious broken leg

The other back leg

The band clamp pulled it all together ... we'll put the screws back into the glue blocks tomorrow after the hide glue sets up ....

restoring a schwanbeck brothers display case

 i always enjoy a nice restoration project where you make something nice out of something not so nice.  this is an excellent case in point.  i didn't take a 'before' picture, but you can see from the one below that there was some pretty serious mouse damage on some of the rails of the case.  someone must have left a few pies in there when the store closed.  click the photos to enlarge them ..

 the case appears to be from the late 1800's and i give the schwanbeck brothers credit for some good design sense.  the case is entirely held together with screws, no glue, and so, was easy to completely disassemble.

 there was a little groove on the bottom of all four panels that engaged the top lip of the base.  once the panels were assembled on the base and screwed together on the corners, the top was put on like a hat.  screws were added from the top and bottom that went into the edges of the vertical panels and the case was then completely rigid. 

  pattented 1897 ...

the new guy, chris, did most of the work on this one .  sweet little case .. it's headed for the store with the new pizza oven ..

ebay find ... before and after

a little before and after here.  a client brought us the chair below.  it had a lovely mousey bouquet about it and some really funky red fabric, but the bones were good, and the hardware was complete and functional.  our friend isaiah at bespoke upholstery carefully disassembled it, saving the original fabric and frames for patterns .. the headrest is finished and will be reunited with its chair tomorrow.  click the photos to enlarge them ..

and i happen to have on hand a skin of maine chili pepper leather from universal leather company that the client thought was perfect for it.

we sanded the walnut veneer lightly and touched up the black painted edges.  we then gave it to our friend steve holman and he sprayed a little lacquer on it to freshen up the shine and get rid of the mouse odor.

  pretty righteous upholstery work by isaiah ...

 parts and patterns .. we made two new frames for the seat and back upholstery .. all the foam and burlap was replaced too.

 very cool upholstery foundation design.  obviously a factory chair. i tried to find one like it on google images but no luck ... info anyone?

 

 very nicely laminated frame.  i have no idea how they did that ... lots of pressure somehow.  it's kind of 'folded' into shape.

 the client asked us to reinforce the base so we added a 14 gauge plate 

between the swivel and the seat.  good to go ..
update 5/31

 

can't keep up

busy, busy, busy here the last couple of weeks.  so busy, i haven't been able to keep up with my blogging ... it's a GOOD problem, actually.  possibly a sign that things are finally, maybe, picking up a bit.  we have had some good new sales and a definite increase in requests for quotes on new projects.   let us all knock on wood here.  where to begin?  above, is the finished upper cabinet for the kitchen we have been working on.  that project is all installed now.  click the photos to enlarge them ...

 in the works now is another pool table to go in the room with the 12' claro walnut table we shipped back in july.  must be a big room !

there were two different designs floating around and so we made a scale model of both options, and the client chose the 'long x' in the top photo.  sam will be making a welded metal base for this one ...

the only problem was, not one, but TWO different sets of slates arrived from florida broken.  definitely a setback as we had to drive to albany to purchase a third from an old friend who restores pool tables, so we could finally get underway this week.

 will has about got the rails under control ...

and jim and i have about got the slate support frame under control.  it will have metal edges to match the metal base that sam is making ....

and sam is ready to weld tomorrow

besides the pool table, sam is extremely busy in the metal shop.  he installed two railings this week, a short one at a home in rupert, and then a more substantial one at the new chamber of commerce building in manchester ... photos of those later.  he also delivered the bench above to go with the 'x' table he made a few months back. (scroll down)

and back in the woodshop, will wrapped up this cherry trestle table Thursday, and it is in the finish room getting its final polishing.

it's a new, custom version of one of our early (1980's) 'shaker' inspired designs

.and we went to a wedding and celebratory bonfire last weekend ... it was a good un.  we burned 10 years of old bookkeeping in that one ...

hot an fast

and quite beautiful ...

and will found us an almost 'new in the box' number 80 on ebay ... you can't have too many of those around when there are four people in the shop ...

and, we've also got a pair of cherry tables going that will be mostly separated, but can be put together for large parties.

we had some beautiful matched figured cherry boards from our friends at irion lumber.

and laid them out and cut them ... going to be cool ...

and i loved this one from the new yorker ... the red sox fans are back to moaning now ... there's always next year ... what else ... oh, and we stripped and refinished a nice knoll-like teak veneer desk/table from the 60's or 70's? i think ... looks like new, thanks to our friend steve holman ... spray finisher extraordinaire ...

 all for now .. gotta get those quotes out ...

wait !  it's hard to believe, but i almost forgot the next big claro walnut table.  the slab for it is now in the garage, waiting for the pool table to get out of the shop.  we'll be working on that soon ... it will have a metal base like the table we recently sent to aspen.

really, now, all for now ...

cute little thing

yesterday i fixed a really cute mini bureau for a friend and client ... she's had it for a while and has always wondered if it was a sample or a kid's piece ... who knows ... whatever it is, (i suspect it could possibly be a journeyman project) (scroll down) it's a cool and friendly object ...
closed.. 18.5 high x 21.5 long x 11" deep ... 10 drawers on the top behind the fall flap and 3 regulars in the lower case.
aside from refinishing the top and fall flap, and replacing the bras around the keyhole, the lock was the most troublesome thing .. it was in one of the drawers and had been for 'quite a while' ... mainly, because there was no wood left to attach it to ...
first i routed the recess level, then added some 'prefitted' new mahogany support pieces glued to the freshly routed surfaces ...
after and overnight dry, i remounted the lock to the new blocks with really small (1/2 x 3) brass screws ... can't wait to get my good camera back from the repair place ...
all in, all done ... good to go ... all the scalloped pieces on the top row have drawers attached