It's been a little quiet in here lately, so here are some photos on some recent project pieces that I have finally finished working on.

Lifetime Cellarette
Footstool (manufacturer unknown)
Bookcase (maker unknown)
Knaus Rocking Chair

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeremy812/sets/72157594412995676/

The cellarette and rocking chair had been painted white/creme and then started to be stripped at some point (previously before I acquired them that is), so I did some further chemical stripping, prep sanded, colored with dye, then several shellac coats. The bookcase had been stained yellow (badly) and then polyurethaned by someone previously, so I completely refinished it with the same strip/sand/dye/shellac process. Finally the footstool had been refinished previously by someone else with a sloppy pitch black coating that was a complete mess. I removed the bad overcoat to find great quartered oak underneath, which I just put some new fresh shellac coats on was all (no staining or dye though).

The rocking chair did not have a cushion, so I made a new one and then covered it with a nice thick chocolate leather.

The footstool had the most disgusting faux leather vinyl that was all ripped up. Someone had nailed plywood on the bottom underneath which had an assortment of springs and webbing inside with synthetic horsehair and canvas padding, all of which was rotting/disintegrating, with way too many upolhstery nails inside. I removed all of that and instead installed some new corner blocks with a proper base and padded top, and then put a nice thick red leather on with bronze colored tacks along the sides following what looked like the original tack lines.

The bookcase required new tenon pins since the ones it came with were incorrectly installed and of the wrong size. The brass screws are also new replacements since some of the old ones were stripped/coming out. The bookcase was the only one out of these four projects that was completely disassembled during stripping/sanding before refinishing.

All of the other pieces (bookcase, rocking chair, and cellarette) have the same custom mixed dye color. However the cellarette then has a garnet shellac that was further tinted darker with a fumed oak dye, to make the piece much darker overall (but not too dark to not still be able to see the wood grain/flake of the quartered oak). The other pieces all have several coats of standard amber shellac. All 4 pieces were waxed with dark brown paste wax (including the new leather).

The cellarette manufacturer is known to be Lifetime based on the style, type of hardware, and comparison to catalogues. The rocking chair is known to be Knaus due to the style (especially the cross support underneath that goes through tenon). The footstool manufacturer is still unknown. The bookcase appears to be just someones homemade craftsman project, as the dados and mortise joints were crudely chiseled and the original tenon keys were incorrect.

I could go on and on with more details, but will cut it short here for now.

Hey Jeremy-

Your refinishing projects are just wonderful. I'm pretty illiterate when it comes to A&C finishes (I come here mostly for the kit house department) but you do a great job of letting the wood shine through!

Donna

I added another batch of photos of another rocking chair that I just finished working on. I suspect that this was an arm chair originally that someone converted to a rocking chair at some point. Since the easiest thing was to keep it as a rocking chair (as opposed to converting it back), I just replaced the rockers with new quarter sawn oak stock since the ones that it came with were in deteriorated shape and appeared to be just flatsawn in a badly matching stain attempt. The entire piece was taken apart (it literally came apart by hand it was so weak and falling apart). Each piece was cleaned and sanded. New dowels, pins, and replacement screws overall. Stained with an alcohol dye mix and then several coats of amber shellac with a dark brown paste wax finish. New seat cushion with thick red leather (matches the footstool project too).

I started working on an old sideboard now that I just acquired. It has a lot of character but has had a rough life and needs quite a bit of work.

The same sideboard that's in your pictures?? That one looks pretty good as is.

quote:

Originally posted by Stonecat:
The same sideboard that's in your pictures?? That one looks pretty good as is.

Oh no, not that sideboard. This new project piece is an altogether different one (I've yet to take any pictures of it). The sideboard in the pictures will always remain untouched (except for a fresh waxing right when we got it).

This new project sideboard is smaller, more of a server really. It has a short mirror back with a plate rail above. All the drawer bottoms need replacing as well as the knobs, maybe the hinges too (to match the new knobs), and a missing keyhole. The sides have major damage to the veneering though, which is all bubbled up and warped (I suspect water damage from possibly being used in a restaurant maybe?). The top has some slight staining and usual scratchups. Interestingly the glue blocks all along the bottom layer are all missing except one, so it is wonder the bottom didn't just fall out on it. However the beveled mirror had been recently resilvered by the previous owner already, and overall the piece has excellent quartersawn flake/rays. Has some great potential really. I'll try to put up pictures at some point.