RECENT PRODUCT SOLUTIONS Formby Products
Homer Formby is well known for his line of furniture finishing products. A third-generation refinisher of fine furniture, he thought about the stripping problem and reasoned that in the great majority of cases, there was no problem with the stain, only with the deteriorated finish. So why not simply take off the finish and retain the original stain, and then apply a new finish over the old stain This would make a lot of re finishing much quicker and easier. Having decided that there was no...
Advantages of a Doweling Jig
With the aid of a doweling jig, most people can make joints with precision, and end up with a professional-looking joint. We have been making doweled joints for a long time and can tell you that there is really no good substitute for a doweling jig. It makes the job simple and easy. You can use dowel centers and other ways of lining up the dowel holes, but no other method or tool does the task right every time. The fundamental purpose of the doweling jig is to force you to drill the two needed...
Replacement Rungs
Rungs and stringers can be so badly shattered that no surgery of any kind can mend them. Then ihe only thing to do is replace them. If the pieces to be replaced are square or rectangular or round and un-shaped in any way, you should be able to buy hardwood of the approximate size and make new ones without trouble. More often than not, however, these pieces have been turned on a lathe and given some kind of shape. Then the only way to replace them is either to shape a duplicate piece on a lathe...
How Many Tools Are Needed
Professionals in all trades share one secret the right tools make the job easier and quicker and do the work better. Furniture restoration is no different. It will pay you handsomely in the long run to acquire the right tools. Fortunately, it won't cost an arm and a leg to add to your present tool collection, but there will be some expense. You need to buy good tools only once, and you can amortize their cost over a large number of jobs. If you find need for an unusual and expensive tool that...
Veneers In Furniture Restoration
When we began to restore furniture, we discovered a number of uses for a knowledge of veneering. First, we found that old, severely damaged veneers often had to be replaced. The 1852 dresser we restored during the writing of this book was a good example of that. Next, we found that sometimes we could take a plain piece of sound hardwood furniture, the kind that was made for utility rather than appearance, and upgrade it to a beautiful piece by veneering all or part of it. Finally, we constantly...
Glue injector
Another type of glue gun is the glue injector, similar to a medical hypodermic syringe but made of plastic. The injector enables you to injcct glue deep into a loose joint in order to fix the joint without taking the furniture apart. In some cases, you can insert the long, thin tube of the injector directly into the loose joint. In others, you must drill a ' 6-inch hole near the joint to gain access. The glue injector does a good job on temporary repairs, but once furniture joints have started...
Preliminaries Counting The Holes
Begin to plan your work by counting the holes across the back of the seat. If there are an odd number of holes, place a peg in the center hole. If there are an even number, put a peg in each of the two center holes. Now count the holes on the front rail and peg the center hole or holes on it. If the seat is not square, but splayed or shield shaped as our rocker is the next job is to identify the corner holes. At the back of the seat, the corner holes arc those at the far left and far right. At...
Step Smoothing the Patch
When the dent has filled, use a small flexible spatula, heated in a flame to smooth the surface. To heat the blade, use the flame from a gas stove or Sterno canned heat. Don't use a candle because carbon will gather on the blade and will discolor the patch. Step 4 Trimming the Patch After the shellac has cooled, use a single-edge razor blade or a very sharp wide-bladed chisel to carefully trim the rounded top down to the level of the surface. The last step is to buff the surfacc with an 8 0 or...
The Ljoint
Just about as simple as the T-joint, the L-joint is used to make corncrs. The end of one piece of wood is lapped across the end A mitre joint creates an attractive finished corner One way to reinforce the joint is to insert dowel pins before gluing. A mitre joint creates an attractive finished corner One way to reinforce the joint is to insert dowel pins before gluing. of another picce of wood, and fasteners arc driven through to hold the two together. The L-joint is stronger than the T-joint,...
Repair for Fractured Bentwood Arm
Another type of problem you can encoun- Our old rocker had two problems she beni wood at the bottom of the arm was broken, with a chip missing from ihe wood ai the point where the arm joins the back of the chair. Our old rocker had two problems she beni wood at the bottom of the arm was broken, with a chip missing from ihe wood ai the point where the arm joins the back of the chair. 1 The arm is fastened to the chair seat by means of a bolt. The wood around the bolt has been fractured, which...
Lacquered or Shellacked Finishes
Reamalgamation can cure both problems on furniture that is lacquered or shellacked. If the deep scratch goes through the finish to the wood, and has caused some of the finish material to flake away, you might apply a thin coat of new finish material to the scratch. Use an artist's brush and carefully place the clear lacquer or shellac in the scratch without getting any on the surrounding surface. Allow this to dry. Then reamalgamate. The new material will serve as a filler during the...
Brittle Finishes
To test for brittlencss in a finish, draw the bottom of a spoon bowl across the surface. Press the bowl down fairly hard as you do. If the finish is adhering properly, you will see a mark left by the spoon, but the finish will stay in place. If the finish has become brittle, the pressure of the spoon bowl will cause the finish to flake and break away from the surface. When you observe flaking, you know that the finish will have problems in the near future. Normal everyday wear will To determine...
Gluing the Split Wood
The most common use of bentwood is in light chairs and some rocking chairs. To make these, long wooden rods an inch or more in diameter are bent into continuous curves. One piece of wood may be formed into the back legs and curved back of a straight chair, or into the rockers and arms of a rocking chair. This kind of bending, while it makes very strong furniture, puts great stress along the outside of sharply curved parts. When trouble occurs, it usu- Bend the splil in place and, remembering to...
Tying Off
Before moving to Step Three, you need to know how to tie off the ends of the cane strands on the underside. The cane must be wet to tie a tight, flat knot, so moisten the loose ends well. First, push the loose end of the cane strand under and through an adjacent loop. This loop is formed by the cane running from one hole to the next. Tying off consists of tying the loose ends of strands on the underside of the seat Neat ties take a bit of practice. Beg n a tie by pushing the end of he loose...
Dovetail Joints
lie careful in tapping dovetail joints apart. You do not want to break any of the fingers of the joint. Tap with a rubber mallet against one joined part a drawer side, for example so that it comes straight out and is not twisted or turned as it is freed. Chair buttons or other wood plugs serve more purpose than just decoration Remove them to find the wood screws they conceal. Chair buttons or other wood plugs serve more purpose than just decoration Remove them to find the wood screws they...
Types of Stains
With this is mind, we are going to do a brief rundown of some of the stains you might encounter, but are going to discuss the application of only those stains you can use with some degree of ease and assurance. Since the objective of staining is to color the wood to your satisfaction, we think you should use the product and technique most likely to achieve that end with a minimum of trouble. Purists in the field of restoration will be offended by this approach because, to many, the object of...
Repair Chipped Plywood
If the top is made of plywood, and only a layer or two of the plywood has broken away, follow the same procedure as for a whole solid wood corner, but do not cut away that part of the top which remains unless it is cracked or badly damaged. Use Missing pieces such as this are a common problem in furniture repair. If the chip is still around, you can ust glue it back on But since no one ever seems to save the chip, a replacement must be created. Missing pieces such as this are a common problem...
Caning Tools
Only very simple tools are needed for caning. You should buy about two dozen hardwood caning pegs when you order your supply of canc. These inexpensive pegs are used to mark the center strands on the work piece and to hold cane in starting holes until you tie ii in place. An awl we use a regular ice pick is used to aid in inserting strands of cane in the holes. You'll need about half a dozen ordinary spring clothespins to hold the cane while it soaks. A bucket for soaking the cane, a standard...
The Glue Gun
This is a plastic tool shaped like a toy pistol. You load a solid slug of glue into it. pull the trigger, and it dispense the glue through its nozzle. The gun takes three or four minutes to warm up after you plug it in. and the glue, basically a polyethylene adhesive, makes a good bond on most materials. The glue sels firmly in about a minute. The gun is great for spot jobs like gluing broken pieces of wicker together, so the whole chair doesn't come apart, or gluing Eleciric glue guns can be...
Wood Dough
Marketed under names such as Plastic Wood and Duratise, wood dough is made by mixing sawdust and a ccllulosc acetate cement. It dries quickly, can be sanded and drilled, andean be softened by lacquer thinner. Don't forget this if you are working on a lacquered piece. The dough will soften a lacquer finish if in contact with it for very long. Also, don't apply the thinner for these formulations to the surfacc of a patch on a lacquer surfacc. You will mess up the finish. Wood dough comes in a...
Dowel Broken Off
In one kind of break, the part snaps off just at the hole, leaving the dowel portion in the hole. The rung itself will then have a ragged end. The repair depends on how much of the body of the rung was destroyed. If the ragged end is very near the part of the rung which served as a dowel, you are lucky. You can fix the rung by following these steps 1 dig the dowel scrap out of the hole 2 fill the hole with a hardwood plug glued in place. Hush with the surface 3 clamp the rung in a vise to hold...
Solvents
Reamalgamation for lacquer and shellac is the same, except that the solvent is different in each case. With lacquer, use lacquer thinner. With shellac, use denatured alcohol. each case, begin by making sure the finish is free of all wax and dirt. To prevent streaking and to permit the solvent to stay in place while it softens the surface, reamalgamation should be done on a horizontal surface. The solvent will run on a verti cal surface and become uneven. Step 2 Applying the Solvent Then apply...
Replacing a Rocking Chair Runner
Rocking chair runners are made in three ways. In some chairs, the runner is cut from hardwood and bent to a curved shape in others, it is cut from hardwood in the curved shape, so no bending is required. In yet others, the runner is made by laminating three curved pieces together. If you must replace a runner, use the third method lamination works best because it requires no bending and at the same time produces a strong unit. Step 1 Cutting the Pieces First make a pattern from the side of the...
The Lap Joint
Exactly the same as the crisscross joint, except that the pieces overlap each other A full lap joint looks neat and finished Only the receiving piece of wood is cut, the cross rail fits into the opening A half-lap pint mates two pieces of equal thickness Both pieces are cut, the crossrail then fits into the mating piece A half lap joint requires care. Mark a gauge line indicating half the thickness of the end to be cut Then mark the width of the crossrail onto the receiving piece. A half lap...
Hints and Cautions
When the surface is soft, it can easily pick up lint and dust. For that reason, use lint- free cloths and work in an area where dust is not a problem. Both shellac and lacquer dry quickly, so the surfaces do not have to be protected for long. For reamalgamation of shellac, use only pure denatured alcohol. Some alcohols are cut with water, and the water in these mixtures will cause the surface to turn white. In addition, work with shellac oil a day when the humidity is low or in an a...
Stick Shellac
This is a specialty filler product, not sold everywhere. Woodworking and craft supply houses have it. What you buy are small sticks of colored hard shellac. There also are stick lacquers and stick sealing waxes available. These sticks melt when heated, and the softened material is used to fill holes and dents. Color Choices The lacquer and the shellac can be purchased in both opaque and transparent forms, and you should be able to buy a color very close to the one you need. The best way is to...
Bleach in Stripping
The use of bleach to lighten the color of wood in a small area has been described. Bleach also is used to lighten the wood color of furniture that has been stripped of the old finish. It can get rid of stain that the stripping did not remove, and it can lighten the color of wood that may have been darkened in the stripping process. However, bleaching an entire piece of furniture is quite different from bleaching a small patch. The job is a lot bigger, and you use much more bleach. Because you...
Product Sources
The following is a listing of sources for products, materials, tools and kits discussed in this book. The list is by no means comprehensive, and is intended to serve as a starting point when these items prove difficult to find in your own area. Most of the companies listed do business by mail and publish catalogs for which you can write. Some charge a fee for these, but we have found the price worthwhile in most cases, for they can be highly instructive and are fun to read. Two Important places...