Oak Teacher’s Desk Revival

Teacher's Desk Before

Remember elementary school? Do you still remember your teacher’s desk? Well, this was once a teacher’s desk that used way back in the day of notebooks (not laptop computers), pencils, typewriters and maybe even an apple on the teacher’s desk. 

Unlike the desks I remember from my early school years, this one had a unique feature; a slide-out, built-in filing cabinet with many cubby holes and slots for letters and other teacher-ish items. I had never seen a desk like this one. And you can imagine how extremely heavy it was!

Teacher's Desk After

The desk top had been destroyed by fire. Our customer thought the top had water damage, but upon closer inspection, it was fire, not water that had destroyed the top. We also noted that the original desk was likely a roll top, which was no longer part of the desk. Unfortunately the top’s damage was so severe, it was not able to be restored. It had to be replaced. 

We generally prefer to use the original pieces of our furniture restoration process, but when that isn’t an option, we rebuild it to resemble as closely to the original design as possible. The burnt top was comprised of border sections surrounding the center sections instead of larger boards simply glued together to create a uniform, single directional top. This was more involved and complex than a directional top and required much more wood in various lengths, but the new top was outstanding when it was done. Jim did a tremendous job in rebuilding the  top to best represent the original one. If I was the teacher, I’d give him an A+!

Tedious would be an understatement in describing the process of refinishing and restoring this desk. Every drawer had to be removed and labeled. The pull-out filing cabinet was its own entity that required even more disassembly and extra steps. The unique part of this little cabinet was that it rotated so that the teacher could easily access the files in the back. It also had its original snap-in alphabetical folders that the teacher probably used to keep track of her students. The handles did not come off, so the stripping and sanding process involved keeping them in place and working around them. The inside of the desk,  as well as the back, also had to be stripped, sanded and refinished. The stain used was golden oak with satin polyurethane to protect the desk for years to come. 

Burnt Top

Newly Built Top

Antique Windsor Chair Refinished

 

Windsor Chair
Before

This is what is called the “Windsor” Chair. It has the classical round form with spindles on the top and bottom of the chair, with the center split and mounted on a curved flat platform that turns into the top of the armrest. These chairs come in plain or rocking chair styles. 

This chair was over 100 years old and original in its antique styling and manufacturing. It had a center split that had been repaired before we got it, however, the stripping on this type of chair is very intense and takes a long time. (We hate spindles!) Not only did it have spindles, it had two spindle bases, one in the center and one on the bottom seat, therefore making the stripping much more time-consuming. 

Windsor Chair After

One of the most difficult part of refinishing this type of chair is that no power tools can be using when sanding, therefore, everything is hand sanded which adds to the time spent removing the entire old finishing. Some chairs are easier to work on than others. This one was not an easy redo because of the spindles, upper and lower. The chair was made of sturdy walnut, so that’s the end choice color we used to stain it. 

Finished and protected with satin polyurethane, it actually turned out beautiful, despite the splotchy look on the bare wood, which is characteristic of old furniture once stripped. If you ever wondered why chairs cost so much to strip, try your hand at one of these and you’ll understand. It’s a very tedious process and takes many, many hours and lots of patience and of course, the right tools to do the job. The most important tool is patience and tenacity. 

Antique Rocking Chair New Caned Seat

Here's another old beauty of a rocking chair that need the broken caned seat replaced. Like many older chairs with caned seats, they tend to get broken after years of use because the cane gets brittle and if a child happens to put their knee onto it, well, there goes the caning with a hole in the middle. If the caning is slightly bent in the middle, it can be made taut again by placing a damp towel on the seat overnight. This technique softens the cane, thus tightening gradually when it dries and giving it more use, at least for a little while. But when it completely breaks through, the only alternative is removing the old,

Antique Rocking
Chair After

broken cane and replacing it with new cane. This is a “strand” cane chair, which means that it has holes surrounding the chairs seat where the cane strands get woven through. This is a seven-step process that is quite tedious, but if you listen to music or a podcast (like I do), it’s not so bad. It’s actually pretty relaxing once you get into the groove of it and allow your fingers to work their magic. 

For this chair, I used 2.25mm fine caning. This is based on the size caning that was in the chair originally. There are methods to measure the distance between the center to center holes to determine the proper size caning to use, but I prefer just to measure the existing old cane to make sure it will fit since the hole technique isn’t always accurate. The reason is that when many of these very old chair were made, whoever drilled the holes didn’t always measure the exact distance between holes as well as the size of the holes, therefore to use just the holes is not the more accurate way to get the proper new caning installed. 

In my experience, it’s better to use a slightly narrower size than one that is too large as this will be a real problem during the final binding step. If the cane is too big and overfills the holes, it’s nearly impossible to get the final strands through the holes without pushing the cane back out of the holes you’ve worked so hard to get securely in place.

This was to date my very best caning job because everything flowed smoothly and the caning was even and straight. The trickiest part was the the curved arm was attached very closely to the holes on that part of the seat, so the arms had to be lifted up enough so that I could thread the caning through the 6 or 7 holes that were very close to the bottom of the armrest. Some of those holes were drilled at an angle, so that made caning in those areas even more challenging as I tried to find the angle of the hole. However, once that was completed, the rest was easy by comparison. Caning is always done with the first step going front to back, underneath, then pulled through the hole and brought forward again. You repeat this process from the center all the way to the right (or left) side then finish off the other remaining side in the same manner. The next step is horizontal, left to right, starting in the back upper corner of the chair, following the same weaving. 

Third step is going over the first step, keeping the strands to the right of the first vertical strands. This is so that when you weave the fourth step, you go over step 3 and under step 1. This is the actual “weaving” part of caning which will set up the diagonal weaves that go from the upper right to the lower left corners. Finally, you weave from the upper left to the lower right corners, going under vertical and over horizontal one way then the opposite for the other side. 

Binding is what finishes off the top. A slightly wider section of caning is measured around the circumference of the chair. This covers up the holes with sections of caning coming up and going down the same hole, pulling tightly to keep the top edge secure. After this is done, you tap in a 1/2” finishing piece to plug the hole(s) where the caning started. It sounds a lot more complicated then it is, but if you follow the steps, you too can become a caning master. It’s definitely a great skill to have, some call a “dying” art as not many people are doing this anymore. It’s also a unique and creative way to add texture to your home with caned pieces such as speaker covers, cabinets and footstools in addition to chair seats and backs.

Here’s the video of the final step of me caning this rocking chair:

https://draft.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/5936537173467203420/6863734281706129925

Caning an antique rocker video

Caning a chair, final step

Video for caning a chair, final step - click here to view!

This is just a quick video that I wanted to share with my blog followers or anyone who wants an idea on how the process of caning is done without getting into the nitty-gritty. There are plenty of videos on all the steps, but I just wanted to highlight my favorite part of the process and what I’ve learned along the way. I have linked a few other videos on caning on my Youtube channel if you’re interested.

Enjoy!

Rene

😀

To view the entire seven-step process, click on the Peerless Rattan instruction video on the link below: 

Caning a chair 7-step process by Cindy Hammond

Note: The Hammond video shows a pretty straightforward caning method, which uses a rectangular chair. You have to learn the differences in how to cane when you have a rounded back chair or a completely round chair. The part that varies at this step is that you must use the same holes several times to even out the front and rear caning. If you have more holes in the front than you have in the back of a chair, you’ll have to double up the amount of holes in the back to accommodate those extras in the front.

Maple Table Makeover

Refinished Table

Nothing says family more than a large dining room table. And, because we love our tables, we use them a lot! Therefore, they take a lot of abuse and as a result, get worn, scratched and marred with the passage of time. This is a very large maple dining table with a leaf that showed signs of wear on the surface. 

Luckily there weren’t any super deep gouges, so it was doable to strip, sand and stain the table and bring back its glory. Choosing a newer, darker stain, mocha, brought out the natural woodgrain and tones of the table which seemed hidden by the wear previous to refinishing. Finished off with three protective coats of satin polyurethane, this worn out table was once again a shining star, ready for many family meals.

Table Before Refinishing

Antique Dresser with Mirror

 

Dresser Before

Dressers are important pieces of furniture with the important purpose of keeping your sweaters and other items handy and at your fingertips. Nobody said a dresser needs to be boring, so why not take a look at that old dresser in your grandmother’s attic and examined it with a critical eye and imagine it refinished. 

Dresser After

This dresser had been a family heirloom that had seen some wear. The mirror was original and had some marking on the back side, but was still serviceable. A fun aspect of obtaining and refinishing antiques is finding something that dates an item. This dresser had old newspapers on the back that dated back to November of 1913. Made of solid oak, this dresser was a lovely piece of furniture worthy of restoration.

As with most mirrored pieces, they are refinished separately, which requires a great deal of care. Especially with a mirror (because who wants seven years of bad luck?) The lovely curves of the side bars of the mirror really added character to the overall look of the dresser. It was indeed a special element that makes these antiques so special and individually unique. Two top drawers with a single larger drawer and a front curve mimics the curve of the mirror frame as well as the top, which had the most damage. After stripping, sanding and staining, we protected this dresser with two coats of polyurethane. 

Luckily, we are usually able to remove most surface scratches on furniture, so this piece had a great finish. The exception to that rule is when an item has veneer with deep scratches. You can only sand veneer so far before you remove it completely and end up with what appears to be a large patch where the plywood shows through. That’s why we love working with solid wood. It’s much more durable and sturdy and refinishes well, with a better final result. Anything made of particle board isn’t even worth refinishing because it’s not “real” wood. You can’t beat solid wood for furniture, that’s why antiques are always worth refinishing so they can be kept for another few centuries. 

Children’s Checkers Table Set

Checkers Table Before

Checkers is a favorite pastime of many people, young and old. I remember growing up with checkers and getting really angry when my brother would beat be. He called me a “sore looser.” Well, who wants to lose? I didn’t. This little table had a well-worn checkerboard center made of very thin plastic which had seen better days. The plastic was peeling up and was simply not fixable. 

Checkers Table After

We made a few suggestions to our customer on how to refresh this table with a “new,” yet original look that could have been created originally and would last for many years to come. 

We decided to create a new checkerboard center by using wood instead of plastic or glass mosaic (another cool choice). This required two types of wood, walnut and maple, cut into even widths and the length of the center section, then cut the glued sections to rotate them180 degrees which created the perfect checkerboard. It worked swimmingly well and looked fabulous. Once the checkerboard center was done, the table was stripped and refinished along with the little seats. The finished checkerboard table with the perfect stain was indeed a work of art upon completion. Kudos to my husband, Jim, who can make miracles happen with wood.

Table Set Before

Table Set After

Checkerboard Antique Card Table

 

Card Table Before

Card Table After

Every once in a while we get a totally unique piece of furniture that is one in a million. One of the many aspects of furniture restoration is the wide variety of items that come our way. It’s always a surprise! At times the surprise comes when we see it. Other times the surprise comes after we remove the years and years of grime to reveal the beauty beneath it. This antique card table with a checkerboard center was such a piece.

It’s hard to know origins of furniture, such as how old an item is, where it was made, what kind of wood is was made from. We have seen mostly oak, walnut, cherry and even some more exotic woods such as bloodwood and olive wood. At times we’ve seen wood we can’t easily identify. With this unique table we quickly realized it was made of many types of wood combined to create a work of art which ended with a center design in a checkerboard or chess table.

However, it was completely covered with years of grime, dirt and who knows what else. Hidden away in a garage for over thirty years, this table was likely overlooked and became part of the back storage of the space it occupied until my customer yanked it out with the intention of getting it refinished. It looked like a major undertaking since there were many pieces of wood missing that would have to be replaced as well as all that grim removed with stripper and carefully sanded so that none of the wood would be destroyed in the process. And yes, each piece of wood you see has been individually placed into the table! This alone makes it a highly unique work of art. 

Once stripped, the gorgeous wood beneath was exposed. It was comprised of maple, bird’s eye maple, walnut and mahogany. Since many of the original tiny pieces were missing, it was necessary to cut and carefully place each missing piece in its place so that it blended in with the table and look as if they were always there. As you can imagine, this was a very time-consuming process. After all those missing pieces were installed and glued, it was then stained and protected with four coats of strong polyurethane so it will hold up for another one hundred years at least. A timeless beauty can say, “Checkmate.”

Card Table Before

Card Table After

Oak Dresser Hidden by Green Paint

 

Dresser After Stripping

Dresser Before Stripping

This little dresser is similar to a few others we’ve done that had the same overall look and design. However, this one was painted green. In our experience, sometimes when a piece of furniture is painted, there’s a good reason for it. Upon stripping this little dresser, we discovered that one of the drawers had a “patch,” which meant that someone had added a different type of wood that didn’t match the original oak that was used when it was built.

Luckily we were able to apply the stain so that it covered the entire piece in a way that looked as it would have looked originally. Likely, it had never been stained, just painted after it was built. It was old though.

When painting furniture, it usually doesn’t matter if wood styles are mixed because the paint covers it all evenly. But when a person wants something stripped and stained, refinished per se, if the wood is patched with non-original wood, this results in a variance of stain colors since different types of wood accept stain differently. 

A good example would be if you apply a dark stain to a light wood such as pine, it would certainly darken the original raw wood but wouldn’t be as dark as if you used the same stain on walnut, which is a darker wood to begin with. It’s always easier to go darker upon refinishing/restoring but much harder to go lighter. Not to say that it isn’t possible to do this as it all depends on the type of wood that was stained originally. Sometimes you simply don’t know what the raw wood will look like until it is stripped as years and years tend to oxidize the wood, making it darker than the original stain. Most of the time the wood, when stripped and completely sanded, is much lighter than the old finish. This allows for plenty of stain choices as it is fun to experiment with how the various stains draw out the wood’s original beauty. This is one of the most rewarding aspects of refinishing...seeing the final results when applying the stain. Ah, it’s pretty once again!

Antique Mahogany Swivel Table

 

Swivel Table Before

Another beautiful swivel table! This antique was made of mahogany with brass accents. The lower portion of this table had a unique “harp” design with three brass prongs, that cleaned up real nice. The top was in rough shape and had seen years of use, including water damage likely from placing a planter directly not the wood. It’s always a good idea to have a planter with a tray or aluminum pie tin to eliminate water damage. 

Swivel Table After

This table was in need of stripping, sanding and new stain. We chose special walnut stain and three coats of semi-gloss polyurethane to ensure protection from everyday use. All the brass accents, feet, harp metal and two small knobs (not seen in photo) were cleaned and polished. Polishing the brass, truly accentuates the refinishing process. It also adds a special “bling” to any piece of furniture, much like the right jewelry does for an outfit.

This style of table is used for playing board games or cards, as it has a “secret” swivel compartment beneath the top that is accessible by rotating the table 90 degrees, then opening one side to reveal the compact area beneath, just large enough to hold note pads, decks of cards and paper goods. When not being used as a game table, it folds in half and can be pushed right up against a wall and used for decorative accents such as plants, lamps or collectibles. Now that it has been refinished, this table will likely be used for many card games and other fun activities.

Antique 19th Century Caned Chairs

Antique Chair After

 

Antique Chair Before

Here we go with more chairs! This time it was a set of four (4) chairs, all in need of TLC. These chairs dated back to the late 1800’s, so they were 19th century chairs that had seen a lot of use, therefore a lot of wear and tear, literally. 

Originally the chairs had caned seats, but over time they likely broke and someone decided to cover the seat with stamped leather, or rather, a leather-look-alike that seemed more like a heavy paper between layers of very thin leather. Broken and no longer able to seat a person, it was high time to remove the leather “fix” and replace it with the original woven caning. But first, the chairs all needed to be stripped, which for this type of chair is very time-consuming because (you guessed it), spindles. Yup, spindles are what takes a long time to strip because there are many of them and they are rounded, making them inaccessible from one angle, therefore it’s necessary to rotate the chair continuously while stripping. 

A chemical stripper was the best option for these (compared to a heat gun), because it melts away the old, worn finish and reveals the wood beneath. Once all the old finish is removed, the chairs are then cleaned up by using soft rags (usually old t-shirts, which are excellent for this) and wiping away the residue left by the stripper with lacquer thinner or acetone. This is a necessary step prior to sanding or your sandpaper will clog up with the residue, making it difficult to remove. 

Starting with 100 grit sandpaper, the chair is prepared to accept the next grit, 150, until the final sanding, which is done with 220 grit. Once all surfaces are sanded, the chair is wiped with lacquer thinner on a clean cloth, allowed to dry, then it is ready for stain. This entire process (for this type of chair) can take from several hours to a few days. Again, spindles are a lot of work, therefore more tedious and time-consuming than flat surface chairs. Once the stain is applied with either a soft cloth or a brush, or both, you wipe away the excess stain, then enjoy the amazing transformation from raw wood to beautifully restored, refinished wood. 

We used "special walnut" on these chairs. The new stain brought out all that gorgeous woodgrain, which had been hidden by years of oxidation that happens over time. Once the chairs had dried from staining (we allow 24-48 hours), the first coat of polyurethane was applied. For these chairs we used a water-based semi-gloss, durable and easy to clean up after. That first coat protects the stain and prepares the wood for the remaining two coats that finish the chair. It is necessary to lightly sand between each coat of poly with a high grit sandpaper to give it “tooth,” which makes just rough enough to accept the next layer of polyurethane. Once the third coat was applied, the chairs were done and ready for the last and final step, install the new caning. 

These chairs had “press-in” caning, cane that comes in pre-woven sheets and cut to size, then installed and kept in place with spline. It’s necessary to soak the cane and spline for at least an hour (or longer) so that it is pliable enough to work with, otherwise it cracks and breaks. Caning “wedges" are used to “press” the edge of the cane into the pre-cut 1/4” groove in the chair. The chairs had a closely woven cane originally, so we chose the same style to keep it original.

It’s necessary to choose the right size of spline, which is based on the width of the opening, so that it keeps the cane in place while completely filling the groove. If the cane is too loose, it will not keep the cane taut. It’s a tricky process because once you have pressed all the cane into the groove, you glue it slowly, allowing the glue to run into the groove, starting in the back of the chair. Once it is glued, you push the spline into place, tapping it with a hammer as you go. If the spline has been adequately soaked, it will bend easily around curves. If not, it can break, especially if those curves are tight. 

Luckily these chairs’ curves were fairly wide, so it wasn’t too difficult to bend them around the edge. Once you reach the back where you started, make a small pencil mark and cut the spline to match the starting point at an angle and tap it with a hammer in place. After all the spline is installed around the entire seat, hammer the spline so that it is level with the top of the chair. There will be caning strands popping out that were left over from the placement after the spline is installed, so they must be trimmed off. I use a sharp chisel and snap them away by tapping on a hammer close to the spline, which removes the excess. You can also use snippers. This completes the caning process. Allow the cane to dry at least 24-48 hours before you sit on the chair.

Caned Bentwood Rocking Chair

Rocker Before
Seat Broken

 

Rocker After
Seat Repaired

This is one of several rocking chairs I have worked on over the course of my furniture restoration/refinishing jobs that involved caning. This one is almost identical to the Bentwood Rocker I worked on last year, except that this one only needed the seat replaced and was not refinished. I only glued the arms as they were a bit loose, other than that I only repaired the broken seat with new cane.

This was by far my fastest caning job yet. It’s true that the more you do something, the better you get. Caning is a lost art, a true art form that takes time, patience and practice. I found the first few jobs I did I thought “this is impossible!” and didn’t think I would ever enjoy it, but with each job they process became clearer and I found myself really enjoying the caning and learning so much about the work as much as myself. I found that I really enjoy a challenge and mastering it. 

I'm by no means an expert (yet) but I do feel my skill level has increased dramatically with each job I’ve done. Seats are easier than the back as they are smaller and have less distance between the front and back, or left to right as the case may be. Although curved seats are much more challenging, they’re not too bad. The most difficult part of caning is around the arms, since it’s quite congested there and harder to pull the cane through those tight holes. 

It is vital that each and every pre-drilled hole is completely free of the old cane, as this can affect the process of pulling the new cane through them. The best way to do this right is to prepare each chair well and you’ll be in good shape. I personally do not like staining or painting caning as I feel it can damage the natural fibers over time and break them down much faster than letting them age naturally. This chair required a 2.75mm cane, which is considered medium, and a bit thicker and stronger than the 2.0mm I used most recently. It is easier to work on the binding as it pushes through all the previously caned holes with ease. My small needle-nose pliers work well to assist with this and the small awl is a necessary tool to pull the cane through from bottom to top. I’m satisfied with the results and more importantly, so was my customer.

Check out the previous similar Bentwood rocking I caned last year by clicking on this link:

http://finalefurniture.blogspot.com/2019/09/maple-rocking-chair-refinished-with-new.html