Restoring/Reconditioning A Chest of Draws

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Interesting read thanks John, you could be right there as there is some pale coloured something in some of the grain and joints, I assumed it was where it had been painted or whitewashed and then stripped.
I'm still undecided on how to re finish it, it has been waxed at some point as there is residue in some of the gaps in the edges and split boards. Not sure if I should remove the wax (what's left) and re apply the liming and re wax or oil or just give it a good coat of teak or danish oil...? My only concern with using oil is it will make the wood very dark, where as liming & waxing or just re waxing will preserve the chests fairer colour.
Also, is it possible to remove oil from the wood? someone spilt a little bit of massage oil on the top recently.
 
I think if you gave the surfaces a good brushing with a clean shoe brush, you would get away with waxing again.
As for getting the oil out of the grain, I've not much knowledge on that one I'm afraid. Maybe some white spirit? Then leave a pad of kitchen roll over the spot, weighted down with something suitably heavy? If there's deep ingrained muck in the grain, a gentle brushing with a wire brush. (Or even a new scrubbing brush. Cheap enough and useful.)


HTH :)
 
woodbloke":1a6i0955 said:
.... If it's survived all this time without drawer slips, there's not a lot of point in adding them now...one of the bees in Jacob's many faceted bonnet :lol: - Rob
Not so much a bee in my bonnet - it's well known issue.
Except by Rob it seems; one of many empty holes in Rob's moth eaten bonnet!

I'd finish it with oil. It looks as though it was stripped and waxed. Needs a bit of colour putting back in. Linseed half n half with turpentine.
 
Jacob, thank you very much for that link to the 'firewood' restoration. Rarely have I read about a restoration with such a well thought out approach. Your appreciation for the work of the original makers is pleasing to see. The sort of written piece that can, and should, be read by all who look to restore furniture, or anything else for that matter. I personally have learnt much just by reading of your work. =D> =D>
xy
 
Thanks for that!
I'm glad I did it although it was slow. Still got it and it is useful - and admired.
I think it is really important to look closely at old stuff, much more so than looking at books n mags. Mainly because the old makers knew more about it than we do. They were under pressure to produce stuff by hand as efficiently as possible e.g. DTs were there as the most practical joint, not as display of expertise, and the backs of things were left unfinished even on posh jobs.
Old stuff also reveals what works and what does not. Hence my view on drawer slips; I've seen quite a few examples where cheapskate slots in place of slips have been the first thing to fail in a piece of furniture. Albeit maybe after 100 years of use.
On the other hand very odd 30º dovetails were holding up well.
 
xy mosian":ehle6ndw said:
Jacob, thank you very much for that link to the 'firewood' restoration. Rarely have I read about a restoration with such a well thought out approach. Your appreciation for the work of the original makers is pleasing to see. The sort of written piece that can, and should, be read by all who look to restore furniture, or anything else for that matter. I personally have learnt much just by reading of your work. =D> =D>
xy

I too enjoyed that read but was left wanting a picture of the finished article.

So, Jacob, can we see a picture of it complete.

Mick
 
Jacob said:
I'd finish it with oil. It looks as though it was stripped and waxed. quote]
not sure that is such a good idea, oiling is non-reversible, (a basic tenet of good quality restoration) shellac and even wax can be refinished or removed if need be.
chris
 
MickCheese":3ow964xs said:
xy mosian":3ow964xs said:
Jacob, thank you very much for that link to the 'firewood' restoration. Rarely have I read about a restoration with such a well thought out approach. Your appreciation for the work of the original makers is pleasing to see. The sort of written piece that can, and should, be read by all who look to restore furniture, or anything else for that matter. I personally have learnt much just by reading of your work. =D> =D>
xy

I too enjoyed that read but was left wanting a picture of the finished article.

So, Jacob, can we see a picture of it complete.

Mick

Um, me too!

And I really enjoyed your analysis of why it was done the way it was.

I never really understood the asymmetry of the dovetails though - do you think it relates to the hinging effect of you cannonball analogy? I mean, if something heavy slams into the back of the drawer, the effect is to hinge it outwards pivoting at the top (I've seen cheap kitchen drawers do this with slippery cutlery trays). Could that be it?

Also, the pictures of the pins (I think it was the pins) you showed had a lot of damage to them - worm, rot or abuse. Did you remake those drawer ends completely? I'm guessing so.

Thanks again for the write up - you've encouraged me!

E.
 
Eric The Viking":3aja6b42 said:
............
I never really understood the asymmetry of the dovetails though - do you think it relates to the hinging effect of you cannonball analogy? I mean, if something heavy slams into the back of the drawer, the effect is to hinge it outwards pivoting at the top (I've seen cheap kitchen drawers do this with slippery cutlery trays). Could that be it?
That was my guess, possibly wild. But they were all done like that which I think means intentionally. An old woodworker with a theory of his own?
Also, the pictures of the pins (I think it was the pins) you showed had a lot of damage to them - worm, rot or abuse. Did you remake those drawer ends completely? I'm guessing so......

E.
They weren't so bad in the end and I didn't replace any of them. I replaced one whole drawer side and the bottom edge of every side where they had collapsed due to wear and collapse, compounded by their not having slips (Rob are you paying attention there at the back? :lol: :lol: )

I'll do a snap later- it's covered in hi-fi and telly stuff at the mo
 
soulboy":1n91v1j8 said:
Jacob":1n91v1j8 said:
I'd finish it with oil. It looks as though it was stripped and waxed. quote]
not sure that is such a good idea, oiling is non-reversible, (a basic tenet of good quality restoration) shellac and even wax can be refinished or removed if need be.
chris

I have shellac in the garage so will test a little inside and see how it goes. Oiling isnt an issue I think in this case, its kind of a two purpose project, 1) we wanted an attractive old chest of draws for the babies nursery, 2) as it happens I bought by accident in my ignorance something that needed a fair amount of work doing to it, which is not a bad thing as I'm VERY much enjoying working all this out and carrying out the repairs, though to functional ends rather than historically correct ones. I'm a first term apprentice, but I would like to carry this on!!

Oh and Jacob, another request here too for some finished photos of your Firewood project, its a very enlightening read and I've been comparing what I've read in your WIP to my own project and answering a few questions along the way. Like my draws have very neat dove tails on the front but non of the rears are the same size, on one corner alone there are four different sizes and with no logical pattern, work of a apprentice perhaps ... as per your comments the rears are out of sight and doesnt matter if they are rough as long as they are secure. The rear dove tails are for the most part much bigger than the fronts, logic says that this is because the pine sides and rear are thinner than the oak front? (Having never cut a single dove tail myself!!!)
 

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19ninety":h3b1qtle said:
........ my draws have very neat dove tails on the front but non of the rears are the same size, on one corner alone there are four different sizes and with no logical pattern, though the rear dove tails are for the most part much bigger than the fronts, logic says that this is because the pine sides and rear are thinner than the oak front? .....
That's it - the backs are thin so the DTs need to be fatter for strength and to make up for the smaller glued area. They are out of sight so appearance not so important. A lot of this stuff is like that - the highest quality on the top and faces, maybe only veneer deep, and the knobs, but everything else cheaper. Softwood, nails etc. Fur coat and no knickers!
 
xy mosian":1r75khbn said:
Jacob, thank you very much for that link to the 'firewood' restoration. Rarely have I read about a restoration with such a well thought out approach. Your appreciation for the work of the original makers is pleasing to see. The sort of written piece that can, and should, be read by all who look to restore furniture, or anything else for that matter. I personally have learnt much just by reading of your work. =D> =D>
xy
Sounds worth a read - what's the link please?
 
Re; dust boards, why not use thin matchboarding of the type you put on walls? It's already about the right thickness and the T&G joint won't be seen anyway: or, you could plane the T&G edges off altogether and 'rub joint' them.

Personally, I almost never use plywood for drawer bottoms or dust boards unless it's something comtemporary. Over here, ply is eye-wateringly expensive and in any case, solid timber is more aesthetically pleasing and customers tend to prefer it.

I also use it for drawer bottoms too, sometimes with the T&G glued, sometimes rub-jointed. More work than ply but nicer by far.

When gluing up a solid bottom, avoid gluing the last inch or two at each end, otherwise it will stick in the grooves of the drawer slips and risk splitting at a later date.
 
Sawyer":2apnnll2 said:
Re; dust boards, why not use thin matchboarding of the type you put on walls? It's already about the right thickness and the T&G joint won't be seen anyway: or, you could plane the T&G edges off altogether and 'rub joint' them.

Personally, I almost never use plywood for drawer bottoms or dust boards unless it's something comtemporary. Over here, ply is eye-wateringly expensive and in any case, solid timber is more aesthetically pleasing and customers tend to prefer it.

I also use it for drawer bottoms too, sometimes with the T&G glued, sometimes rub-jointed. More work than ply but nicer by far.

When gluing up a solid bottom, avoid gluing the last inch or two at each end, otherwise it will stick in the grooves of the drawer slips and risk splitting at a later date.

Ah good idea Sawyer! I'll bare it in mind for any future projects. Luckily I had a laminated softwood timber board which was enough to replace the two upper dustboards. I'll use one of the removed ones to repair the lower dustboard which is in good condition except the end partial board has come unstuck at some point and been lost - will be a nice easy repair.
If I ever use T&G I'll definitely plane the T&G off and glue them, would look a lot better I think and well worth the time doing it.
 
Sawyer":1c9369ww said:
....
When gluing up a solid bottom, avoid gluing the last inch or two at each end, otherwise it will stick in the grooves of the drawer slips and risk splitting at a later date.
OK will do!
Another thing is how the bottoms are fixed. There's a popular detail* which shows a screw in an expansion slot into the back. I think this is cr@p as it can't stop the board pulling out of the front slot. And in any case if there was any load on the bottom the screw is very unlikely to allow movement - it will catch and act like a nail, better without it altogether.
On my drawers I thought the bottoms were dry enough so I put on some pins at the back to stop them from slipping out (not knowing any better). In fact they carried on shrinking and pulled out at the front. So out with the pins and glue in the front slot to keep the boards in. No other fixing. I don't know if this is orthodox but I have a set of drawers in a good quality piece which is done like this. At least I think it is as I can't pull the board out and there are no other fixings visible.

*This detail appears in several popular books. Just goes to show how unreliable some of them are!
 
I wonder if books work on the basis that your operating in the perfect text environment, kiln dried timber aclimatised in a warm low humidity workshop/environment?

Hmmm, humidity. Now my chest is stronger I've been able to move it in to the garage to carry out the rest of the work, its been raining, snowing lots and now drizzling this morning. Joy.
 
19ninety":1ulweej7 said:
I wonder if books work on the basis that your operating in the perfect text environment,.......
In the country of the blind the one-eyed man is king (as Ed said in the pub!).
So if somebody says "this is how you do it", he may be believed by default.
 
19ninety":1w8r99ft said:
I wonder if books work on the basis that your operating in the perfect text environment, kiln dried timber aclimatised in a warm low humidity workshop/environment?

Hmmm, humidity. Now my chest is stronger I've been able to move it in to the garage to carry out the rest of the work, its been raining, snowing lots and now drizzling this morning. Joy.

Come on now! Mustn't work on Sinday!

It's raining on you because you are being 'norty'! :lol:
 
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