How to clean this up?

[MJP]

My daughter has found this in the attic of a house which used to belong to my parents..it has been baking in that attic for at least 50 years that I know of.

It looks as if it might once have been the central box on a dressing table or somesuch - it was certainly part of something larger.

It's about 20" wide, 10" deep and 4" high overall.

She wants me to restore it - goodness knows why, I don't see any charm in it, but whatever Lola wants....

The top and base appear to be mahogany (I think), the sides are veneered, some of which has fallen off.

The first job is to clear off all the dust, grime and what appears to be an oil stain. Then I need to reattach the veneer. Rag 'n Bone Brown's recent attempt at veneering have given me some idea of how to do the latter.

So - what's the best way to clean it up? I assume that anything aqueous is out since it may loosen the veneer even more? Do I stick to white spirit and a rag?

Once it's cleaned up and the loose veneer reattached, I intend to give it a once-over with XXXX wire wool and Danish oil. Is this the right thing to do?

Thanks for any help

Martin.

PS -I managed to add one pic twice - no idea how!

 

[Doug B]

My first line of attack would be methylated spirit & webrax pad

 

[MJP]

Ah - meths..yes.never thought of that...would be better at removing the grime too, I suspect. Thanks Doug.

 

[thetyreman]

I would use white spirit and 0000 wire wool to clean this up.

 

[MJP]

Thanks TM - yes, that was my first idea. ( I did mean 0000 not XXXX - too early in the day for me!). I do rather fancy trying meths though...I'll try both, see which is best.
M.

 

[MJP]

Well that answers that! - five minutes with meths and a rag makes a heck of a difference - looks like it was ancient Shellac..that was the easy bit of course...cleaning up the rest will be a lot more onerous.
Martin.

 

[Deadeye]

My first line of attack would be methylated spirit & webrax pad

Or methylated spirits and a match...


:twisted:

 

[Brtone]

Really nice piece, is it box or table top, if mine I’d be thinking of oil to refinish.

 

[MJP]

No Doug, no matches unless I get *really* fed up of trying to clean it up!

Brtone - it's a "box" of some kind, but the back and bottom are rough as if it was once part of a larger piece. I think it was a centrepiece on a dressing table or similar.

I've got cloths soaked in meths sitting on parts of it now, softening up the old shellac.

Just wish it wasn't so cold out here in the workshop - I can only stick it for an hour or so!

Martin.

 

[MJP]

Oh - and yes, I'll probably try Danish oil to finish it once I've got it cleaned up.

Martin.

 

[thetyreman]

are you planning on veneering the curve? if so that's going to be a challenge.

 

[MJP]

Hi TM - yes, I've got pretty much all of the old veneer that's fallen off, so I'll have a go at reattaching it - happily it's still curved, so I'm hoping that it'll go reasonably well.
Biggest problem will be clamping it of course - I'll have to be creative there!
At the moment I'm wondering how to clean up the veneer without detaching more of it - it's barely holding on as it is so I don't want to go at it too roughly. The baking in the attic hasn't done the glue much good!

Martin

 

[yetloh]

There's every chance it was originall glued with hide glue and that is what I would use to repair it. The modern cold variety is good but hot is better for repairing the veneer as it sets very quickly. When it comes to finish, why not keep it original and use shellac?

Jim

 

[MJP]

Hi Holtey - yes it does look like hide glue. I'd planned on using PVA to reglue it - never used hide glue so that would introduce yet another unknown into the equation. Might rethink this now though....I'll buy some anyway, just to get the hang of it.
As for shellac - only ever used it on very small items, never done it on something so large so I thought that I'd stick to something I know, might have a better chance of achieving a decent finish.
Plenty of time to think about these alternatives anyway - it's FAR too cold in the workshop for me to do anything with it at the moment!
Martin.

 

[MJP]

OK - bought a kilo of pearl hide glue; Going to buy a bottle of Titebond Liquid Hide glue now to compare the two if my workshop ever gets warm enough to work out there!

I read that the liquid glue has a limited shelf life, though reading back thro the forum postings I saw mention of someone (can't recall who sorry!) using it seven years after it had expired, with satisfaction.

Anyone got any comments on shelflife? I'm just a weekend warrior, a bottle with last for years.
What's the best storage temperature - I assume my freezing cold workshop isn't it?
Martin.

 

[yetloh]

Martin,

Can't help you with liquid hide although I seem to remember reading that the bond becomes weak if the glue is past it, so it might be worth trying a test bond before committing to it if it's been around for a while.

A warm workshop does help when using hot hide glue. Failing that (or anyway) it is worth warming the work with a hot air gun for a few minutes before applying it.

Jim

 

[MJP]

Thanks Jim.

Yes, I'm likely to be using the Titebond hide glue infrequently so I did intend to do a test piece each time, just to check.

I'l probably be applying it in the kitchen because my workshop rarely - even in the height of summer - gets comfortably warm - that's one reason why I suspect that the Titebond will win over the pearl glue, which I understand pongs a bit!

On a totally unrelated matter, we've been clearing out my Mother-in-law's house (she passed away last Autumn) and have just found an old pair of hair brushes stamped "real Ebony" so that's made my day.

Martin.

 

[AndyT]

I may be the same person you read comments by - I've certainly had no problems with my liquid hide glue being 'quite old'. It's easy enough to test on scrap first.
It does need to be nice and runny though - if it isn't, just stand the bottle in a mug or tin of hot water for a few minutes.

For the heat it up in a pot version, what are you going to heat it in? I've seen mention of body wax melters being good, but not tried this myself. I think this is the sort of thing - under a tenner from China, or a bit more for quicker delivery from the UK.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Salon-Spa-Ha ... 3149043510

 

[MJP]

HI Andy -
Yes, might have been you...I was flicking through old postings and didn't note the contributor.
It's a bikini wax melter that I'll get - I've read of people using baby bottle warmers too.
Have you any idea what the optimum storage temperature would be? I can choose between typically 5c in my workshop, or in the house at 20c - which do you think would be best for longest life? Thinking about it, since it's an animal-derived product, storage at 5C might be best, stop it going off.

Martin.