Antique Secretary

Secretary Before

Secretary After

A secretary desk such as this was quite popular in the
early 1900's, used for writing letters and keeping track of bills. Like many items of furniture of this era, it showed its age with missing sections of veneer here and there as well as the wood grain practically gone as aged finishes darken, hiding the lovely wood grain beneath. The lovely details on this secretary included a hand carved decorative rope on the front bottom, a curved drawer and fancy brass handles.

The interior had a built-in cubby section with its own little drawer, perfect for keeping postage stamps, pens and note pads. The back of the secretary was damaged, so we replaced it with a matching section of wood which matched the stain perfectly. This piece was a handful. Because of the detail, stripping was tediously time consuming, especially the rope scrollwork on the the drop down front and the edges of the shelf beneath it. It's hard to see this in the photo, but the shelf edges had three layers carved into it.

Secretary Open Before

Secretary Open After

Having a variety of woodcarving tools is a necessity to remove the old finish down to the bare wood. In order to do the job right, it was necessary to take it apart and strip the components separately. Not only does it look better, it's much easier than trying to get your hand inside those tiny compartments. It's also easier to polish the hardware, a little thing that has a large impact on the finished item. The difference is in the details.


This secretary was made of tiger oak, which has a lot of "movement" and visible grain. This wood looks gorgeous when refinished. One of the many joys of removing old varnish and stain is revealing the hidden wood grain just below the surface. Age darkens the original finishing, thus hiding the beauty of the wood. You never really know beautiful something is until you remove all those layers!

Broken Drawer

For this secretary I chose walnut stain and semi-gloss

Repaired Drawer

polyurethane. I was pleasantly surprised at the incredibly beautiful wood which you couldn't see before stripping. Jim removed the broken veneer on the drawer front with a piece of oak he had cut thin enough to replace it, then carefully bending the new veneer to follow the natural curve of the drawer, he glued it in place and held secured it with clamps for 48 hours. Once the glue had completely dried, I trimmed the excess and sanded it smooth. The result was awesome, the drawer once again whole. This was a great deal of work, but the results were well worth the time spent to bring it back to life.

This secretary was one of four antiques done together. Check out the others below:
http://finalefurniture.blogspot.com/2017/04/antique-piano-bench.html
http://finalefurniture.blogspot.com/2017/04/artistic-end-table.html
http://finalefurniture.blogspot.com/2017/04/antique-writing-desk.html