Antique Repairs and Restorations

Repairs ... We love em ... If they could only talk; then theyd be even more interesting .... This pair of tables came in one at a time with the idea that we only had to put a leg back on one of them and patch a broken corner. However, they came in with a bureau that was a basket case when it arrived and looked like a million bucks when it left .......

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Petersburg Mi How to make fluted trim Part II

Here are the results of my fluted trim setup. As you can see, I made a quicky featherboard. These are worth their weight in gold! The featherboard allows me to run long pieces through, and maintain a good cut with the bit.Ive got all the fluted cherry cut, and am now moving on to sanding and preping the cherry plywood. I have 8 sheets to do so this...

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Ive been working on some custom shelves for a customer that has a pedal car collection.  If you dont know what a pedal car is, here is a picture of some of theirs...div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;" The new shelving is going in a room that was built on to the house specifically for the pedal cars. For each shelf, we...

The Current Big Thing

When I look at the list of posts for the last two or three weeks, it looks like not much is going on, new projects wise.... A couple repairs, some metalwork, a woodshed and railing for my own home, a new camera .... like I said, not much going on ... Thats because, for the last three or four weeks we have been working on a large project and I, as yet,...

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Now begins the time consuming task of finishing the built in.  The first step is to fill all cracks and voids, generally with a wood filler or a lightweight spackling compound.  Then, the entire unit gets sanded. In the following pictures, the unit has a coat of Zinsser primer on it.  Due to work load, Ive hired this process out to a...

Northville MI project finishing the shadowboxing

With the oak out of the kiln, and others jobs settled down, Im now able to start work on the rails and stiles for the storage cabinets.  After running the rough oak through the planer, cutting for lengths, and going through the edge joiner, Ive set up the band saw to make some simple standard cuts.  1/4" cut on all sides will make a nice...

Northville MI project finishing the shadowboxing

Posted on 17.47 by zeri

Ive finished the foyer work for now, and heres a few pics of the shadowboxing. Ive started work in the kitchen - the goal is to add some matching endpanels on the bare ends of the cabinets and some surrounding base trim - the last pics are a sample of this work.br And heres a pic of a budding woodworker!br...

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The Mysteries and Art of Finishing

Posted on 13.31 by zeri

The photo above is from my big Matisse book and it shows 16 of the 22 photos sent by Matisse to Etta Cone, showing states in the development of Large Reclining Nude, 1935. I wish I had photographed the various stages in the finishing of this table. I wouldnt have 22 photos, but Id have a bunch....br For the first 10 years of my career as a furniture...

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How I square rough lumber

Posted on 13.16 by zeri

I need to make another piece of trim for the cherry built in, and thought this would be a good time to show how I square an edge on lumber that still has bark on it. In the pictures below, Ive shown my method.Ive planed the piece down to my desired thickness. Ive attached a piece of paneling to the top of my rough lumber using small finish nails. This...

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Update on the Front Door

10/1 Home stretch on the door project ... We had to go to the site yesterday to final refit the front door before final priming,coloring and rehanging. The molding miters will need some patch and fill work and Tom of Keefe and Wesner Architects (restoration specialists) turned us on to a product by West Systems called microballoons. You add this sort...

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