New project came in

[DaveHawk]

Although I get many pieces like this one would sit in a barn or garage till some family member decides to trash it of someone comes along that see's the potential a old piece has. This is one of them pieces. It will have to be totally dismantled, all old glue removed and reglued with the proper glue. Rabbit skin glue (hide glue) then the process of cleaning and building up thin layers of tong oil till the right shine and buffed out. Should be 14-16 hours work. 1870 Walnut desk with burl veneers. She is going to look sweet !

 

[Big Fin]

I admire your talents, Dave. You say 14-16 hours of work. For me, that would be 14-16 years of work. Look forward to the pictures of completion.

 

[DaveHawk]

Randy I usually end up under estimating and the customer get the advantage :IF" they are long term customers.
Thanks for the reply.
Note** I wounder how many of old pieces of furniture are out in them their barns our west just sitting around. That heat would be a natural preservative. I seen a couple come from out west that were supper dried out, still took a ton of work but still a viable piece of furniture.

 

[Gerald Martin]

Second what Randy said. For me that would look like some great potential. I'd move it out of the barn into my garage where "I'm going to restore that someday," and it would sit there.

Good luck on the restoration.

 

[trevore]

Please post pictures of that when you're done. Almost nothing better than a properly restored antique.

 

[Sytes]

To think of the talent that went into crafting something of that nature back in 1870... WOW! Look forward to the pics when restored!

 

[DaveHawk]

This is a Federalist Mirror I just finished up cleaning the dirt and grime off the gold and repairing broken corners and flaking gilt. The customer wanted it done for sale. The mirror is worth 6K

 

[Jezz]

Don't you have a TV show American Restoration? Now we have 2 celebs on the site.

Kidding aside, you do fine work.

 

[Goldtip]

I have to third Randy's statement. That would take me years to restore, working on it full time and I would still break half the pieces as I took it apart. Really looking forward to seeing it when done. The mirror is amazing!

 

[tarheel]

Nice looking piece Dave, should clean up well. It's very similar to one I have in oak, but mine is the short version without the cases. I'm removing all the glue from an old Windsor chair now so that it can be reconstructed. Fortunately the customer isn't pushing me to finish right away, as he knows I've two other projects underway.

 

[DaveHawk]

Nice looking piece Dave, should clean up well. It's very similar to one I have in oak, but mine is the short version without the cases. I'm removing all the glue from an old Windsor chair now so that it can be reconstructed. Fortunately the customer isn't pushing me to finish right away, as he knows I've two other projects underway.

We have a few projects going all the time. Right now I am tring to finish up a porcelain horse that shattered 1 or 2 plus a small figure. I'll have to post these up when I'm done. Not sure how they will come out. They have to be really close to matching up ever break because the customer dose not want to spend on the touch up right now and if he brings them back later I really do not want to have to deal with additional trimming to make them right.

 

[DaveHawk]

Don't you have a TV show American Restoration? Now we have 2 celebs on the site.

Kidding aside, you do fine work.

Jezz, I don't do large hard medal projects because my shop is not set up that way. But just about anything else I'm good to go. I DO NOT CLEAN UPHOLSTERY !