This old red oak table was quite a mess when it arrived.
It was stored in a damp garage for years leaving it filthy. Boards in the top had separated as the old glue gave out so the top was in numerous pieces when it arrived.
You can see the difference in color when we first sanded half of the top. That new wood color is almost always hiding under the ruined finishes on these antique pieces.
We stained it a nice medium brown (Minwax Honey if memory serves correctly). Out of that seemingly destroyed old wreck came this finished beauty. It is all solid oak, no veneers, so it ought to be good for another century.
This dining room set was nearly ruined in a house fire.
We completely repaired and restored this oak dining table and chairs, considerably damaged in a house fire.
Fire and Water Damaged Furniture
When we received this dining table and chairs from the restoration crew, one end of the table was broken off by the collapse of a water soaked ceiling and insulation. Three of the chairs were so water damaged that the seats fell apart into multiple pieces. Water had literally washed/soaked away about a third of the finishes on this dining set. The baby chair had a leg burned black at the lower end. It was in rough shape.
Refinishing this dining set, however, is exactly the kind of challenge we enjoy! There is always something satisfying about being able to strip and refinish a large dining table. The transformation is pretty fun to see.
Refinishing and Repair Techniques
The chair seats were broken into several pieces and had to be re-glued, sanded smooth, and refinished.
One chair had a rung missing so I had our favorite wood turner custom make one to match the existing rungs. We installed the new custom rung and when the project was complete you would never know one rung had been replaced.
Once we get to spraying the professional finish on table tops, one of the things I like to do to make the finish shine is to spray on two or three coats of sanding sealer, instead of just one coat, before I apply any top clear coats. Sanding sealer in multiple layers gives the table top finish some nice depth.
In the end this restored and refinished dining set turned out great, and should be good for a few decades or at least until the next house fire.
Custom woodworking can take a lot of unexpected directions sometimes.
This railing is for a restoration project in our area. The new piece of railing needed is less than four feet long and the rail profile is not available. In fact the goose neck on the original railing appears to be hand made which is what we will do also.
Often times we can reproduce old moldings and woodworking with machine made parts that are very close to the original moldings. But once in a while we have to carve or otherwise replicate antique woodwork.
I wanted to play around a bit with this project and tried the draw knife to shape the curves on this oval rail profile. Once carved to a close shape the rail will be sanded smooth and ready for paint.
Antique Woodwork Keeps Things Interesting
One interesting aspect of the work will be the need to fit this oval railing goose neck directly into a ball on the top of one newel post. I told the architect that this joint would likely be the most difficult I ever had to make in my nearly 50 years of carpentry and woodworking. I am planning to hand carve that joint and maybe we can make a time lapsed video to demonstrate our hoped for success.
Here at Old Virginia Woodworking I do not hire laborers or carpenters I hire apprentices. There is a world of difference in my opinion. Typically when business owners hire people it is to fill a need for the business. That is true here as well but I have other motivations too.
I believe God has prepared me for such a day as this. Having worked in the building trades for 48 years God has been gracious to let me learn a great deal about building and woodworking. It is only by His gracious provision and kind providence that I have gained my skills. That providence has also helped me to own and provision a good sized shop full of modern tools and equipment.
My Dream Job – Woodworking & Furniture Refinishing
Here I am in my later years working on what many tradesmen would call their dream projects. We refinish a wide variety of furniture pieces. Some are quite nice antiques. We also build some new pieces and make custom moldings for restoration work. I often reflect on the kindness of God in allowing me to work on these desirable projects.
I realize there are numbers of guys around who would love to do the kind of work we do here and would be greatly blessed to have that opportunity. I have decided I ought to (to quote a famous Person) give as it has been given to me and give other guys a chance to learn what I have learned. Hence my commitment to train apprentices in refinishing and woodworking.
Suspender Man™ showing off custom door project progress.
Working at My Calling
This is work I believe God has given me to do. It is right here in front of me. I do not have to go to Africa or any third world country (though I greatly respect those who do) in order to fulfill my calling. I can walk just 300 feet down to my shop and do some kind of good for Christ’s kingdom without moving anywhere or driving a single mile.
Given the moral decay and philosophical and spiritual collapse of the university systems and the general lack of trade school opportunities the need has never been greater for apprenticeship training. This idea of apprenticeships was a part of old Christendom that has been bypassed and forgotten for over a century.
Many people have heard the word apprentice but have no real, meaningful content for that concept. I am trying to revive an old idea that I believe is both biblically sound and useful in our time. I am doing something new by imitating something old. True, Christian apprenticeship involves more than just learning trade skills. It involves teaching and learning an entire worldview to go with the trade skills. This is what makes Christian apprenticeship Christian and it is why I am determined to train Christian apprentices. May God give me the grace to succeed to His glory.
This huge panel is the largest single panel of wood we have ever made – approximately 6’ x 8’. The wood is quarter sawn African Mahogany and finished at a full 1” thick.
Finished custom mahogany panel
It was an amazing project. Too large to be sanded in our 50” wide sander it was built in two pieces, sanded by machine, and then glued together. All final finishing was by hand.
Gluing up the mahogany boards
Built in two pieces because the size was so large
Gluing and clamping the two panels together
Custom wood panel at its finished size. Finish was applied as the final step.
This big, new wood panel was not part of our restoration woodworking or custom moldings panoply. It is a stand alone piece that was designed to cover a huge hole in a customer’s shop wall and as a decorative touch for his business. It took four of us to get it lifted onto his trailer. Normally, one of the considerations in building wood slab like this is that a wood slab with no inset panels can expand and contract considerably with changes in weather and humidity. But in this case there will be no problem because the slab is not being used as a door or movable in any way.
Our woodworking takes many interesting twists and turns since each project is custom. Not everything we build is for historic renovation. In the case of this giant panel the ummm heavy lifting was done mostly by my shop manager and former apprentice, Tim.
When we restore and refurbish an old cabinet like this we can get into a wide variety of work. If the cabinet was made after about 1920 or so it could have cheap veneer plywood sides, bottom, and back.
These plywood panels soak up humidity or direct water from rain or other sources. Then the glue lets go between the veneers and the entire piece needs to be replaced. Sometimes you can simply remove the outer layer of the plywood and replace that layer with new veneer. An old iron can help. You use it to heat up the layer of peeling veneer and the heat softens the glue, and bingo, off comes the old veneer.
The new veneer has to be cut with care using a pattern. Then use contact cement to glue down the new veneer. It may sound hard but it is really easy. This Sellers cabinet is really just a variety of Hoosier cabinets but it was a cheap knock off made mostly of poplar wood, a wood which needs to be painted for It rarely looks good stained and varnished.
The best way to get the roll top desk to roll properly is, simply, to work it repeatedly until all the hidden paint crumbs break loose and the track clears enough to let the top move properly.
Don’t be afraid to try it and restore your Hoosier or Sellers Cabinet to its former glory!
Completing the Restoration of a Hoosier Cabinet
The first video we posted up above shows you know how tough this cabinet looked when we began. It was literally falling into parts on the floor. One of our most helpful products for restoring old, broken furniture is epoxy adhesive. Epoxy is tremendously strong, plus, you can add silica thickener to make it stay in the glue joints and not drool all over. Epoxy is a good filler/adhesive and fills up where broken bits of wood have gone missing.
Another trick that gets the job done faster is to use a good commercial paint stripper. Now that might sound like a bit overboard but if you ever try to use the hardware store products, well, you will be there for days with frustration to the moon. We use Benco brand paint stripper, and use rubber gloves, apron, and eye protection. Of course I can’t talk you into anything you just have to decide how many hours you want to spend to strip a cabinet.
Once cleaned up you should sand the cabinet. If you are going to paint your Hoosier Cabinet then prime it first and sand the primer. Then apply two coats of a high quality paint and, voila, you will have discovered a new hobby — or maybe discovered why people bring their furniture to guys like us for refinishing.
Many viewers may wonder what the purpose is in priming wood. Why bother priming when you can simply paint a couple of coats and be done with it?
Primer helps with several possible painting problems at once.
Primer has plenty of solids in it which block the underlying color, figure, and grain of the wood. If you hate painted wood then this seems like a bad thing. But if your goal in painting is to hide the wood look and gain an even color surface, then primer is your friend. In this case we used white primer but your paint supplier often can tint the primer toward the final paint color thus adding to the primer’s ability to hide the underlying surface (substrate in painter’s professional lingo).
Primer is designed to bond to that substrate better than paint: and excellent bonding is highly important in most paint projects. Who, after all, wants their new paint to be peeling and flaking? Additionally, paint will bond to primer better than to bare wood. The primer provides the bonding both to the underlying surface and it provides a good surface for paint to stick to.
Plus — Primer dries hard enough that it can be sanded to a silky smooth surface prior to painting. This gives the painter a superior clean, smooth surface to apply paint. If you want a professional paint project then take the time to prime the wood, sand the surface, and then apply a couple coats of the best quality paint.
We have many times repaired bracing for the undersides of couches and upholstered chairs. Often these good old pieces were built over a century ago. The techniques, tools, and materials by which springs support was achieved have changed over the decades. In most cases we can rework the underside of your antique spring-seat furniture to give it a long, new, refurbished life.
For some people there is a suspicion that the old wire springs are simply worn out. My experience is that this is rarely true. Typically it is the support for those springs that has given way. In most cases we can repair broken couch and chair frames back to new strength or better. And we can support those old spring seats to get them back to their original performance.
Restoration of furniture and refinishing is what we do here. Let us take a look before you toss that family heirloom.
This big mahogany door is a great example of what can be done in a custom wood shop. We can create truly superior products in our own one-at-a-time way.
Better Wood, Better Construction
For one thing the frames of our doors are doweled together at every joint. This is, we believe, the strongest way to build a door.
Plus, if you are building your own door you can construct it out of better wood species and cuts of wood. We often use quarter sawn African mahogany. Quarter sawn wood is far more dimensionally stable than the plain sawn wood in most factory built doors. Mahogany in itself, is also more likely to lay flat and be stable than other woods.
We also laminate our door rails and panels with two layers of wood to, once again, make sure that the doors never warp or twist. It is kind of a big deal if your new custom door, for which you have paid substantial money, warps after you get it. It’s our job to make sure that doesn’t happen.
Door Thickness and Strength are Important
Other things to keep in mind when ordering a custom door are the thickness and strength of the door and frame.
Thick Doors Make Strong Doors
Once we decided to laminate two layers of wood on every door rail we found we could also build the doors thicker (meaning stronger) than typical factory doors. We suggest building doors to full 2” or 2-1/4” thick. This makes a much heavier, stronger door. It also makes a more beautiful one. All of the details are heavier, thicker, and show the door to have real substance.
Strong Construction is Our Jamb 🙂
The jambs as well should be considered for their safe, strong performance. A typical factory door jamb will be only pine and around ¾” thick plus the stop. I like to build door jambs at least 1-1/2” thick or more plus the stop.
This strength of frame is useful for resisting break-ins. It also assists in keeping a heavy door hanging straight for the long haul. When we see people on TV smashing in a door with a single kick or shoulder block – those are the cheap pine jambs from the big manufacturers splintering open. If the door and jamb are made from solid hardwoods in thicker dimensions, then that break in guy just bounces off. OK, even a great custom door and frame will, likely, not keep out the US Marshals. But any local thieves have at it cause you aint gettin in.
Those Lovely Ball Bearing Hinges
One last thing; heavy doors swing like a dream on ball bearing hinges. For heavy doors we typically use four, 5”, ball bearing hinges. You do not want to cheap out on the hinges. If the hinges are under sized you will have many difficulties keeping that door hanging straight and swinging properly.
Our experience with removing milk paint has been revealing. We bought what was supposed to be a great, potent commercial milk paint removal product. Nevertheless it took around 15 hours to clean up this door.
I try to help our readers discover tricks and training for their own home projects. But I have no good advice for stripping milk paint except: Do Not Waste Your Time!
Milk paint is chemically different from all other paints. It has a chalky look but is often hidden under other types of paint.
I have raised my price for stripping painted doors from $250 each to $1,000 each. Nobody will hire us to strip doors at that price, which is great. We are going to concentrate on other things. Good riddance to the milk paint doors.
