Stimpi
Established Member
Being retired when one of these comes along I generally refuse to take it on or give a silly price so they can obtain a cheaper rate BUT, the client was a friend who’s husband had done favours for me in the past.
The client had won a successful bid at auction to what they believed was an antique wood fire surround at a well known auction house in Sussex.
They were aware when viewing this surround that it was larger than the chimney breast within the designated room and the dark stain was not required.
My task was to strip it down into component parts, discard some of the mouldings, sand the timber to bare wood and reduce it in its overall width.
It has taken an age, the dust even with precautions could only be done in two hour shifts and I was constantly stopping to sharpen my tools. Some of the mouldings were dentals (cleaning them was just as painful as having dental work).
Cuts had to be worked out to give minimum affect on mouldings and decorations and had to be sharply cut and square, held together with glue and biscuits.
Scrapers were used with some being ground to fit the mould shaped together shaped sanding blocks.
I took the finished article round and placed it temporarily in position.
Just one thing If you don’t tell them I wont, its not an antique. The centre back panel is veneered MDF.
The client had won a successful bid at auction to what they believed was an antique wood fire surround at a well known auction house in Sussex.
They were aware when viewing this surround that it was larger than the chimney breast within the designated room and the dark stain was not required.
My task was to strip it down into component parts, discard some of the mouldings, sand the timber to bare wood and reduce it in its overall width.
It has taken an age, the dust even with precautions could only be done in two hour shifts and I was constantly stopping to sharpen my tools. Some of the mouldings were dentals (cleaning them was just as painful as having dental work).
Cuts had to be worked out to give minimum affect on mouldings and decorations and had to be sharply cut and square, held together with glue and biscuits.
Scrapers were used with some being ground to fit the mould shaped together shaped sanding blocks.
I took the finished article round and placed it temporarily in position.
Just one thing If you don’t tell them I wont, its not an antique. The centre back panel is veneered MDF.
