Renaissance Revival Walnut Plant Stand (Ca. 1870)

I recently picked up a Walnut plant stand that needed to be repaired and refinished. At some point this stand had been repaired and refinished. The last person to refinish it used a random orbital sander on the table which left orbits in the wood. A vigorous sanding by hand should solve the problem. The main problem with the table was a crack in the top. The underside of the top was missing a large wedge of wood so I did not feel comfortable simply gluing it back together. The repair I made utilized butterfly patches, which are patched that are bow tie shaped which straddle the crack. these help to keep the top from coming apart in the future. the photos below show the removal of the old finish and the repairs to the table.

Here is a photo of the table as it came to me. This photo shows the crack in the top.
The table after the finish was removed and the loose parts were separated. After the top was glued up I cut the butterfly patches and laid them out on the underside of the table. You can see the amount of wood missing from the underside of the table. The top side came together pretty well.A close up of one of the butterfly patches.Using a Forstner bit and a chisel, I carved out the space for each patch to fit into.The patches glued in place. The space is made a bit shallower than the patch so that I can then plane off any excess material making the patch flush with the surface.A close up of a butterfly patch installed in the surface.The three patches installed and the crack filled. This will all be touched up later to hide the work.

Here is a photo of the table being glued up.