Everything New is Old Again

The restoration of an early 2oth century chew toy. (Part Two)

In order to have the repairs I've made, to the gnawed and chewed wood, blend in with the older materials I now need to beat up my careful craftsmanship.

A bit unnerving...
one might even say distressing!

The tools are quite simple.

•     A distressing tool

A file handle with a section of twisted wire, onto which I have threaded keys, washers, bent nails and nuts.  The more diverse the collection of objects on the distressing tool the more likely the pattern of dents will appear to be the result of time and use.

•     My favorite rock. 

 It has a rough and a smooth side and works best on the bottoms of new leg repairs and flat surfaces. In this instance I used it to round over the top of the new stretcher to mimic the wear caused by feet resting on the edge. You could do this with a rasp - but the random surface of the rock leaves a more convincing surface.

•     A faux worm hole tool

Made with sharpened nails of different diameters driven through a shop made handle.  The faux worm holes are only appropriate if the piece already shows signs of a previous infestation. Usually if the piece is walnut or cherry the damage is primarily to the lighter colored sap wood.

The secret is to make the distressing as random as possible. Looking at the original sections will often give you a clue as to how much and where your "age marks" should be added.

Often I'll leave the piece laying out and give it a whack when ever I walk by. If you spend too much time thinking about it - it will look contrived.
    



"Our admiration of the antique is not admiration of the old, but of the natural. "
-Ralph Waldo Emerson 

The Finished Product 

 
.
.

Mass Production "1750 style"

with a little 21st century help

When this pair of  demi-lune tables arrived only one of the 12 carved corner brackets or spandrels  remained entirely intact. I decided it was best to make complete spandrels and than cut them into the remaining sections to retain as much of the original as possible.

Traditionally a  tracing or rubbing would be made to duplicate the missing parts.

Instead I photographed the bracket, scaled it in Adobe Photoshop and traced over it in Corel Designer. After adjusting for the printers scaling I printed out 12 perfect templates giving me one more bracket than I needed but allowing for "mistakes" From that point on it was back to the eighteenth century.

The first step was to cut out all of the profiles with a scroll saw and clean up the corners and inside cuts with a chisel.

Then the template was cut into sections and the details traced onto the faces of the blanks.

Its always tempting to want to carve one of the pieces completely at this point. But being impatient to see the final result will lead to a lack of uniformity. Completely carving each bracket before starting the next would mean that each one is unique and individual - an admirable trait in some things but not in a repeating pattern.

The face elevations are all carved on each piece followed by the rounding or each leaf followed by the... section by section, piece by piece.






A very gratifying and peaceful way to spend an afternoon - or three.


Additional Photos



History

In talking to the client about this post it became apparent that I had neglected some relevant history. This pair of demi-lunes was a "near" pair. The earlier piece being 18th century, the later an almost perfect copy made in the late 1800's.

Thank you Don for refreshing my memory!

The Leg Repair

Usually when a leg breaks on any piece of furniture its an easy task to put the parts back together. In the case of this leg however, there is little if any support for such a cross grain break. 

The rule of thumb I was taught was that the gluing surface should be a minimum of 6 to 1. Six times longer than the thickness.

Obviously not possible here so it has to be doweled through the break.The next problem is - how can you possible get a dowel aligned straight through the break when the surface is so irregular?

If the break was closer to either end of the leg you could glue it together and then drill through the break after it had dried.  In this instance the break is 16 inches from the closet end so not a possibility.

So... I squared the leg up on my mitre box and cut through the leg just above the break. Glued the break together, centered the two sides and drilled the dowel hole. I glued the joint using West System epoxy, a material best known for boat building. It provides an incredible amount of strength and ages well.

With the addition of a small amount of micro balloon filler it also fills gaps and voids in the joint. Slight pressure from a packing band to hold it together until it dried and we're on to the finishing process.

              

Glues and Adhesives

In most situations I avoid using epoxy like the plague. It is completely irreversible making it unsuitable for most conservation work. If you make an error in reassembly or the piece shifts as it cures you are left with no options for realignment of the joint.

While it should never be used in a cut joint, occasionally when a section is broken in an area that needs structural stability, it has is purposes. With this repair, the leg is delicate and holding up a 6 foot long mahogany sideboard. The use of the dowel will add strength (that 6:1 ratio) and keep the joint true and square until cured. Other options would require replacing the leg or removing so much of the original material as to disfigure the piece.

mea maxima culpa...