Furniture & Art Repair and Restoration Log

Fixing and making things, what tools to get and what skills to learn, ...
Married2aSwabian
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Re: Furniture & Art Repair and Restoration Log

Post by Married2aSwabian »

Yes, Danes have quite the woodworking tradition! Tage Frid was a Master who inspired a generation of woodworkers at RI School of Design in the 60s and 70s I believe. His book:

https://www.amazon.com/Tage-Teaches-Woo ... 186&sr=8-1

Is a bible for woodworkers and my go-to reference for any question. I have the paperback version - I don’t recommend paying the current astronomical price for hardcover on AMZN!

On page 188, he outlines a method for finishing with Watco that is slightly different than on the can:

1. Wipe on a heavy first coat with a rag and leave in overnight (don’t wipe off excess)
2. Apply a second coat the next day. This will dissolve the surface residue.
3. Using a fine grit sandpaper (he recommends 220, but I sometimes use 320 or even 400 - black wet sanding paper) sand lightly until the resulting slurry is worked into the pores of the wood.
4. The next day, steelwool the surface with 000 steel wool and you are done!

This gives great results, especially with softer hardwoods like cherry, which is my preferred species at the moment. ;)

Hint: if you use too much Watco oil in step 2, it will take longer to complete step 4. Just have to experiment until you get the right balance.

Good luck!

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Ego
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Re: Furniture & Art Repair and Restoration Log

Post by Ego »

Two guys who buy storage lockers showed up to the swap meet with a truck full of stuff last weekend. Everything was covered in thick dust. The owner of the storage facility told them the locker had been untouched since the 1960s. The owner had died. When the guys opened the truck it was packed full of mostly machinery, tools and furniture. I purchased this planter for $1. It was covered in grime so think it appeared to be black. I forgot to take a photo before washing it. It was stored in the desert and the wood was bone dry. It took three coats of Danish oil on the legs.

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The bullet-egg is made from fiberglass with a burlap overlay.

Tyler9000
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Re: Furniture & Art Repair and Restoration Log

Post by Tyler9000 »

Nice! That's a beautiful find, and a terrific refinishing job. Inspiring.

Igotgoals
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Re: Furniture & Art Repair and Restoration Log

Post by Igotgoals »

What a beauty

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Ego
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Re: Furniture & Art Repair and Restoration Log

Post by Ego »

Thanks folks! Mrs. Ego used her veto on sales so we will have it until we hit reset and sell everything again.

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Ego
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Re: Furniture Repair and Refinishing Log

Post by Ego »

Ego wrote:
Sat Mar 27, 2021 6:29 pm
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I sold the table for $800 to a great guy whose grandmother had the same one in her home. The exact person who should own it.

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mountainFrugal
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Re: Furniture & Art Repair and Restoration Log

Post by mountainFrugal »

Nice! Great work!

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Sclass
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Re: Furniture & Art Repair and Restoration Log

Post by Sclass »

That was a really nice table.

theanimal
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Re: Furniture & Art Repair and Restoration Log

Post by theanimal »

Well done, @ego!

abdulbasit
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Re: Furniture & Art Repair and Restoration Log

Post by abdulbasit »

I repaired my door and it looked as good as new. I did the sanding first with 120-grade sandpaper to remove the weather effects and old paint. Then worked on details a little bit and painted it again. It was a 3 days process full of fun.

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Ego
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Re: Furniture Repair and Refinishing Log

Post by Ego »

Ego wrote:
Sat Apr 24, 2021 11:39 am
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Finally getting around to refinishing my chair. I found a short roll of burgundy vinyl at the swap meet for $10. It is made for boat cushions so it should work. I removed the legs and headed to the basement to refinish them while Mrs. Ego began working on gently ironing the material (it had been folded) and planning the upholstery. I came up with the first set of sanded and stained legs. She looked at them and said, "Oh, I thought you were going to just make them black." I have a can of dark stain so I gave that a try. Rejected out of hand. Once the stain dries I will give them a light sanding and spray paint them black. Ugh.

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Ego
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Re: Furniture & Art Repair and Restoration Log

Post by Ego »

We just stretched the vinyl over the chair and stapled it in place. Round brass headed upholstery tacks on on the way from Amazon to secure the back and maybe the front. Mrs. Ego decided she linked the refinished legs/arms.

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Ego
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Re: Furniture & Art Repair and Restoration Log

Post by Ego »

It was harder than expected to get the brass nails spaced evenly but we eventually got it. Four handed job to pull the vinyl taught while nailing. Once both sides were done it looked pretty good. We are happy with the results.

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Ego
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Re: Furniture & Art Repair and Restoration Log

Post by Ego »

On Saturday I found a set of old metal dentist drawers from the sixties at the swap meet for $10. They were covered in light green paint and rust. I bought them with the intention of storing some of my tools in the drawers but discovered the metal was stainless steel and the paint came off with a light sanding. I installed a set of metal wheels I had purchased for my rolling suitcase project that went in a different direction. I still have to sand the last two drawers and then figure out if I want to give it a coat of clearcoat or maybe just a light coat of rust inhibitor. I've seen a few similar listed on 1stdibs for lots so I may resell it.

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Ego
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Re: Furniture & Art Repair and Restoration Log

Post by Ego »

I am happy with how it turned out. 100 grit sandpaper left an obvious pattern. A second pass with a 3M pad that is similar to steel wool took away the most obvious lines. Cleaned it up and sprayed it with three very light coats of Rust-Oleum 2X clear coat.

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Ego
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Re: Furniture & Art Repair and Restoration Log

Post by Ego »

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Early last year I found this old painting on a wood panel with no frame for $5. It had been stored upside down on a floor that had gotten wet and most of the top and side of the painting was ruined. The wood had soaked up the water and the paint had completely flaked off of about 60% of the work. Fortunately the area with the signature was intact so I kept it in my shop. A few months ago I found a frame for $2 that was the correct style for the painting. I carefully sawed off the damaged section, framed it and was happy with the results.

The artist is known for painting saccharine European city scenes so I didn't expect to get much for it. I took it to the swap meet to ask a friend about it. Another one of the art buyers thought I had brought it to sell and offered me $200 on the spot. Sold!

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Slevin
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Re: Furniture & Art Repair and Restoration Log

Post by Slevin »

@Ego, sales question for you. If you end up posting a good on a sales forum and generate a lot of immediate interest, should this be construed as an underpricing? Or if you have made out with some sort of profit margin, do you consider it to be totally fine and worth it? I.e. this piece that I got from a friend for cheap, sanded down the top and added a coat of Danish oil on, then threw on Craigslist (and was immediately bombarded with 20 emails or so)Image.

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Ego
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Re: Furniture & Art Repair and Restoration Log

Post by Ego »

It depends. Right now about 80% of the responses for high priced items on craigslist are scams. They will send an email address and ask you to respond directly rather than through the craigslist relay or will offer to send someone with a (fake) cashiers check to pick it up. That said, it is a beautiful table so it is quite possible that it is underpriced.

Nice work!

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Slevin
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Re: Furniture & Art Repair and Restoration Log

Post by Slevin »

As far as I could tell I got 5 real people interested super quickly. I probably should have set a higher price, but I'm not very good at selling things yet. Anyways, sold for $400, so a cool $200 in the pocket plus the other furniture I got in the sale (that I haven't sold yet, all matches this stuff).

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Ego
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Re: Furniture & Art Repair and Restoration Log

Post by Ego »

@Slevin, that's excellent. $400 seems like a good price to me. Definitely not underpriced. Large furniture can be hard to sell so I'd say you did well.

Today I found this small antique table top for $10. It is about 15" across and did not come with legs. I will have to figure out what to do about the missing teeth and solve the leg problem. I believe it is Moroccan but the wood is extremely hard so I'm not sure. Will have to research. Another fun project.

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