Amazing Firewood

Hmmm... how to start this post. I guess I should start at the beginning. My boss Pierre is good friends with a nearby antiques restorer, Enrique. Enrique has already given me an old shop vac, and he's been doing some major cleaning around his shop lately. In the midst of this cleanup, he's gotten rid of a lot of old scrap wood, and other "garbage".

I believe a lot of this old wood was burned at a get-together a few weeks ago, and it was Pierre who told Enrique to save a few pieces that I might be interested in, which were mainly a bunch of "old doors".

This was maybe a week ago, and I finally got to see them and take them home yesterday (Friday). In addition to the old doors was an old gilded frame, and just before coming, Enrique asked over the phone if I'd also want an old desk.

These were all going to be burned as fire wood. If this is what was thrown out, I can just imagine what he kept.

Most of the doors are quite large (nearly 4 feet tall), and most are over an inch thick. Most of them date to the 1800's, but a few may be old enough to be in the 1700's.

I quite liked this set. Enrique said they were nice, but too plain.



These look very, VERY old. Possibly early 1800's, definitely French Quebec, and likely from an old buffet/hutch.



These are probably the oldest ones, and possibly into the late 1700's. They have very rough carpentry (all hand planed, and hand carved). The back has a lot of rough tool marks. They are stained very dark, but I think they may be yellow pine?



Back panel detail:



This one is quite nice. It has sort of a Gothic or Arabesque arch, old blue paint, and the back is grain painted.





The back has the letters Y (or J) B.



This is the smallest, and roughest of the bunch. It has woodworm, rot, and some broken parts.



Here is the lovely gilded frame:



It needs work, but I should be able to cast/copy a good portion, and use it to duplicate the broken sections. What's nice about it is that there are 3 or 4 shades of gold used on the frame, and it's quite deep and elaborate.



The frame is quite large as well. Here you can see it propped up in the living room, and it's nearly the height of the love seat.



There was also this lovely inlay panel:



It seems to have been cut out from something, since all 4 edges are rough, and it's too thick to have been a door, so I'm not sure where it was taken from. It could potentially make a nice little table top.

It has some losses, and a rough surface, but I think it can be saved.





The show stopper, however, is the desk.

The desk will need a TON of work to restore, but it's a very interesting and lovely piece. It appears to be mostly walnut, so if you can use your imagination, it could be really gorgeous once it's done.

Here was just the empty base (which has completely fallen apart and is barely being held together by a few tiny wooden strips) right before I put it all back together:



And here's what I've got to work with. As-is, it's missing several major sections, such as the bottom skirt (toe-kick), the drop-down lid (writing surface), the left side lid support, and the right side slant (triangle piece).



The interior drawers have curly birch veneered fronts, and the original ring pulls.





I was glad to see that I have one of the two lid supports, because I have never seen any like these.





The left one is missing. Enrique said he might still have it somewhere, but I won't hold my breath.





The top is in very rough shape. There are several spills where the wood has swollen-up, and the finish is toast. I'm also wondering if it might have had a bookcase top, since there are shadows, and a track where there might have been a back board (it has been filled-in with a strip of pine).



Left side slant is cracked.



Both bottom sides are separated (the 2 boards that make-up the side came apart at the glue joint):



The right side also has a huge broken chunk at the front (bottom), which will need to be patched/repaired, and a broken chunk at the back, which won't show under the toe-kick (I may still patch it).



Missing right-side slant:



The 8 handles from the drawers are missing (matching ring pulls), and two of the 4 keyhole escutcheons are also missing. Luckily these are made of wood, and I should be able to copy them on my lathe.



All of the 10 drawers have hand-cut dovetails at the front AND backs.



Something interesting, and that I'll have to be very careful with, is the hand written calligraphy labels (on thin fragile paper) over some of the pigeon holes. They are in French, and have titles like:
Lettres privées (Private Letters)
Comptes (Accounts)
Lettres reçues (Received Letters)
Lettres envoyées (Sent Letters)
Reçus (Receipts)
Divers (Miscellaneous)
Certificats d'Arpentage (Survey Certificates)
Terres de la couronne (Crown Lands)
Rapports (Reports)
Bureau des Arpenteurs (Office of Surveyors)
etc.



I am not quite ready to work on this project, but I decided to at least clean it up a bit, so I removed all the worn-out and chewed-up felt, clean-off the dust, and you can also see in this photo that all the pigeon hole dividers are loose, and will need to be reglued.

I also removed the two later hinges, and you can see that the desk originally had 3 smaller hinges.



It should be a fun project, but I have other ones I want to finish first, like the grandfather clock.

Gramophone Cabinet - Complete!

I'm very happy to report that this project is finally finished. I'll be leaving the doors open on it for a few days so that it can keep curing/drying out, but it's finished.

I think this is a wonderful piece of furniture. It was free, and I only spent about 25$ to refinish it, and replace the knobs. The knobs that were on it were mismatched and one (possibly both) was not original. I settled for two antique brass knobs from my stock of old hardware.

The cabinet will live in the corner of the dining room, since this seems like the best place in the house for it, but I might change my mind later on, depending what kind of dining room furniture I end up with. I kind of want an antique table, chairs, and either a sideboard or hutch. These can sometimes be had for very cheap at auctions.



You can BARELY even see my two repairs on the drop-down door. They're practically invisible, which makes me very happy.



Compare with the before photos:





BTW: Can you believe my father was just going to put this at the road? It wasn't in great shape, but it's such a wonderful cabinet! I'm so glad he asked me first. I would have been extremely upset with him.

September Update (Part 2 - Woodworking Stuff)

Alright, Part 2 will focus on woodworking projects.

Earlier this month, or possibly late July, I was approached by a neighbour from down the street from whom I had bought a nice old (damaged) Black Forest clock. He was wondering if I'd be interested in buying an old cedar chest. I had told him I'd go have a look at it sometime. He spotted me while I was painting the porch, and I told him I'd go have a look that evening.

As it turns out, it was a rather nice Walnut veneered chest by the Roos company, and it was in... restorable condition.



I had never heard of the company before, but they made some really beautiful (and well made) chests. One style in particular is made to look like a wonderful early American dresser.

Anyways, I decided to buy it because the interior was in pristine shape. The chest has all the original hardware, and it still has both original keys still stapled on the inside!



The paper labels on the lid are also in perfect shape.







The interior of the bottom section is fitted with the patented "Guardex" system. Basically it's a perforated cardboard liner that is meant to let the cedar breathe, while keeping your clothes from direct contact with the wood.



The chest is not without its drawbacks, though. In the photo above, you'll note that the tip lid isn't currently attached to the base. This is because both lid stays are broken (but I can re-weld them), and the hinges are unscrewed. You'll also note that the portion over the lock is all chewed-up. This is not visible when the lid is closed.

Additional issues are two broken turned feet. One has the missing segment, one doens't. There is also a section of moulding missing, and one detached. The entire bottom skirt is also all coming apart, and the top needs a veneer repair along the back edge. It also needs refinishing.

Fortunately, I got it for 40$. I think it was well worth it. It will look nice at the foot of my (currently nonexistent) bed, and it will match my other walnut furniture.

***

Projects that I worked on today (I had the day off), were some baseboards in the L Room, and this cabinet below.

I don't know weather of not you guys (and gals) recall, but this little yellow cabinet had been installed between the stairs in the garage, leading up to the second storey spare bedroom.

You can see it in this early photo of the house:



The cabinet is VERY rustic, and it's been sitting on the garage floor for months. I had thought of just throwing it away, but I decided to take another look at it, and see if I could spruce it up a bit.

Here are the initial photos. It had been missing the bottom rear stretcher, but I found an old piece of scrap wood that was EXACTLY the right size/width/length to fit, so I reattached it.



Very simple t-g doors.



The interior is partially painted, partially rough sawn wood, and t-g.





A very crappy repair was made to the side to hold the hinge for the left door. I'll be fixing this, but keeping the rustic feel. The sides are painted a greenish navy blue.



Someone scratched-in what looks like "Mike/Michel/Michael Rox" on the left door. There is also some faded-out black marker on the bottom board that looks like "???ting Place ?????" (see first photo).



After some small repairs, and a few nail holes filled, I decided that this little cabinet deserved a bit of trim. Nothing too fancy, since I wanted to keep the rustic look. I decided to route a round-over on a scrap of rough sawn pine for the base, and to finally use some large cove moulding that I've had in my wood bin for years, just waiting for that "special project" where I'd need it. I nailed the mouldings in place and scratched/dinged/antiqued them.

The reason for the trim is mostly for looks, but also to hide the ends of the t-g boards that make up the top and bottom of the cabinet.

I think it looks pretty awesome now! I just need to repair the left door (the hinge edge is all rough and cut-up, and that top block "repair" is a mess.



Once I have that repaired, I'll be ready to paint it! I want to strip the hinges and handles, and then paint it on the inside and outside in glossy oil paint (since I have no idea what kind of old paint is currently on it).

Any colour suggestions? I'm partial to green, blue, and red, but I'm open to just about any colour... Mint green? Navy Blue? Light yellow again? What about the inside? Off white, or something fun like bright blue or red?