Table French polish job

[auscab]

This is a job we have been working on lately , re make three missing leaves ,strip the spirit varnish later colour job,colour match the three leaves and re polish with shellac , some pumice ,elbow grease
Its a rare sight , a table this nice , solid Cuban Mahogany ,it has a double winding extension system, made between 1865 / 70 with a matching set of twelve chairs .at this stage it's 75 % through the polishing,needs to be finished in about a week.

[Kim]

Great work Rob it looks magnificent....so, how many back and side sets to you reckon are in that baby???















Cheers

Kim

[kiwigeo]

Great work Rob it looks magnificent....so, how many back and side sets to you reckon are in that baby???



Cheers

Kim

Yeah lets cut to the chase Rob and discuss the important stuff!!!

Lovely work on that French polish by the way.

[auscab]

Great work Rob it looks magnificent....so, how many back and side sets to you reckon are in that baby???



Cheers

Kim

Yeah lets cut to the chase Rob and discuss the important stuff!!!

Lovely work on that French polish by the way.

Yeah a lot of sets , I thought the same thing when I saw it, I keep wondering if there is a one piece neck per leg.
I think I would be in BIG trouble with the client though.

This sort of thing was cut up a lot in the past , the building I work in had cabinet makers and polishers working in it from the 1940s to the 1980s, they would buy in tables from the auctions and cut them up for desks and what ever.
When we moved in, I noticed a small trap door in the floor the width of one floor board ,about 450 mm long, I lifted it and had a look but it was to dark to see, so I thought I would go under the shop and explore from one end to the other, there were stacks of timber and boxes and old drawers full of brass furniture fittings, wheel barrow loads.
when I got up to the trap door ,a little past it ,appeared out of the darkness a pile of extension table winders , approx 30, from memory .
The trap door was cut in the floor just to get rid of metal left over's from pulling apart extension tables for the wood. A board on the wall is where they nailed all the old trade labels that were taken off .
Things do go in cycles and its hard to sell Mahogany furniture these days,

Mahogany guitars I would think could be the opposite ?

[sebastiaan56]

Jaw dropping work Rob!!

[auscab]

Thanks Seb, glad you like it
here are some more pictures,

We had to plug and re position the top ,so we positioned the top ,spiked it through the hole from the under side, flipped it up and then drilled and tapped it. Then with a rub of beeswax on each screw it's a pleasure putting them back in

Missing screws have to be made,they are 16 or 18 g ? we re forge the Hex heads of screws with a heading plate. and saw the slots in by hand, we take off the zinc or Gal with acid first

And some pictures of the extension mechanism.

[Allen]

How cool is that!

I got to do quite a bit of antique furniture rejuvenation (I wouldn't be so bold to say restoration) in my 20's. One of my most enjoyable jobs. I envy you. And thats some spectacular work.

[Kim]

Great work on a wonderful project Rob, I really enjoy these topics, so interesting to see what folks get up to when their away from the wood and the wire.

Cheers

Kim