When I was 16 years old, I had to perform a community service project for church. All of the other kids chose the normal types of service: volunteer at a help center or a soup kitchen, that kind of thing. Me being the person I am, I refused to follow the norm. I was looking for something different. I just wasn’t sure what I was looking for.
After church one day, my mom was talking to a lady we know. She works at a local historical site. She was talking to my mom about a couple of pieces of furniture that needed some work and she didn’t know what to do. My mom called me over and had the lady explain to me her situation. I listened carefully. When she was done, I told her that I thought I could help her out. This in turn became my community service project and my first refinishing project.
The two pieces that need work was an old chair and an antique cabinet. The chair was just coming apart and needed to be re-glued. This was a relatively easy fix I thought. I was wrong. The entire back piece was loose. So I had to take the entire back off. Then clean out the joints and re- glue it. While cleaning out the joints, I noticed that there was a gap between the tenons and mortises. I filled this in with a mixture of glue and fine sawdust. Although this was effective and made the back sturdy, it was not a professional repair.
Since the tenons were all in good shape, I could have filled the gap with wood putty. After allowing the putty to dry, I could then smooth out the mortise until the tenon fit perfectly, then gluing it in place. If the gap was too big, then this would be ineffective.
The antique cabinet just needed to be refinished. Someone had already stripped off the old finish and sanded it. All I had to do was stain and varnish the piece. I thought it would be simple, someone else had done all the hard work. Years later, I found out that by stripping off the old finish, you greatly reduce the value of the piece you are refinishing. It isn’t damaging to the piece, it just isn’t worth as much. That’s when I realized that it is up to the owner what should be done. Do they want it stripped down or do they want to preserve the original finish? Personally, I like to preserve the original finish. I find it more pleasing to the eye, not to mention you can see the life it has had by the nicks and small scratches in it. You get a feeling of its history.
I have learned a lot about refinishing furniture since my first project. It may seem like a daunting task, but it is well worth the experience. Give it a try! Just remember to be patient.
So You Think Yer a Woodworker? 