Mahogany Secretery Desk (ca.1930)

The Completed Desk

 A piece I recently restored was a secretary desk made by the Northwestern Cabinet Company of  Burlington, Iowa. I believe the desk to have been made sometime around 1930. The Burlington Public Library has put together a webpage detailing the history of some of the furniture manufacturers of that town. An entry on the history of the Northwestern Cabinet Company can be found here. It is the third entry down:

http://www.burlington.lib.ia.us/genealogy/furniture.htm

In addition, while researching this desk I came across a photo taken recently of the factory. A link to that photo can be found here:

 http://iggyz.com/?p=9695

Below is a page from a catalog of the Northwestern Cabinet Company showing an almost identical desk to the one I worked on. The differences I can see are two more drawers inside the desk compartments as well as a slightly more elongated pediment. The original sale price in the catalog was $47.40.

The desk is referred to in the catalog as a "Governor Winthrop" desk. This is a bit of a misnomer as it was named after Governor John Winthrop of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Governor Winthrop lived during the 17th century while the design of this desk reflects a mid to late 18th century taste and would most closely be associated with the Chippendale style. Wikipedia shed some light on the origin of this name, saying that it was first coined in 1924 buy the Winthrop Furniture Company of Boston Massachusetts, who offered the "Gov. Winthrop Desk" during the Colonial revival period in American furniture manufacturing. The use of this term dates the desk I worked on to after 1924 and realistically it was probably made in the 1930's, 1940's, or even as late as the 1950's. Below is a photo of the label on the back of the desk. The name of the manufacturer is seen in the bottom right hand corner of the label.

 

The advertisement above mentions that the desk was originally offered in a Walnut or Mahogany finish. Indeed, the primary wood used in this piece is Birch that has been stained and finished to resemble Mahogany. Birch was commonly used in this fashion because when stained, it has a look similar to Mahogany, and was much less expensive to use since it is a domestic wood. Below is a photo of the desk as it came into my shop. One of the drawer fronts had become loose, the feet were loose and missing portions on the claws, the finial was missing a portion, and the finish needed a cleaning and touch up. In addition, the false dividers for the glass were warped badly as was one of the drawer bottoms. One last piece was that the plating on the hardware had come off , revealing the metal sub layer which was pitted and rusted. The owner and I decided to replace the hardware, as seen later in the post.

This photo shows the top drawer front being glued to the rest of the drawer.

The glue block used to support the finial had become loose. This photo shows the piece being reattached to the back side of the pediment.

As stated above, several portions were missing from the "claws" of the feet. This was due to glue failure and the fact that the feet were not solid, but comprised of several boards glued together. Feet get a lot of abuse from vacuums and feet passing by. This photo shows the patches on two of the feet in a semi-carved state. they were later finished and touched up to match the existing finish.

One of the drawer bottoms had become very warped and was beyond repair. I used the original as a template for the new one. In order to do this I had to clamp the old bottom down to the new in several places in order to get an accurate tracing.This is seen in the photo below.

Below is a photo of the new bottom on the right next to the old drawer bottom on the left. You can see the amount that the old bottom had warped. It had also become delaminated.

Below is a photo of the old hardware on the right next to the new hardware on the left. The new hardware was slightly larger and had a more traditional profile than the old. It was also made from solid brass rather than  brass plated metal.

The old hardware was also pressed as seen below to give it the depth of brass hardware. The next photo shows the back of the new hardware that was flat and not pressed. Overall, the new hardware was a nice addition to the piece.

One last photo of the repairs was gluing down the lamination on the dividers for the windows. You can also see in this photo how warped the divider had become. To deal with this, I reversed the dividers when I put them back in to flatten them against the glass. The next two photos show the completed desk.

Reproduction Walnut Hall Tree Part 4: Restoring The Original

This post concerns the restoration of an Oak hall tree, circa 1890. The post is also part of a larger series of posts I am writing on the reproduction I am building of this piece. The key differences between the original and the reproduction are that the reproduction is made from Walnut and also that the design of the reproduction has been modified to include a storage box below the bench. The first three parts of the series deal with the fabrication of the Walnut hall tree and the last entry (part 5) will show completed photos of the two together.

As for the original, The customer and I discussed the finish and decided to leave the original finish intact to preserve the age and use of the piece. That being said, there were a few places that the finish had deteriorated beyond repair, so it was removed and replaced selectively. The hall tree was also missing a few parts and needed to have them fabricated. This included one piece of hardware which had broken. I include photos of the hardware, reproduced by Ball and Ball foundry, later in this post. The last thing the hall tree needed in terms of repair was to be glued so the joinery would be tight.Below are some photos of this process.

These first two photos show the hall tree as it came to the shop. The brass hooks had been removed at this point but the mirror was still intact.

Below the seat there was evidence of  stretchers that connected the front leg to the back. The absence of these stretchers had caused the seat joinery to be come loose. With no template to go on, I decided to copy the design of the turnings in the arm posts. The posts are thicker then the diameter of the stretchers, but the design elements were the same. The stretchers were about twice the length of the arm posts, so I made the stretchers have a mirror image from the center of the post design. Another way of saying that is that from the center of the stretcher the design of the arm post was copied in both directions. The photo below demonstrates this. It shows one of the two stretchers after it was turned.

I actually turned both stretchers from the same board. They can be seen below side by side on the lathe.

This photo shows the stretchers after they had been removed from the lathe and cut into individual stretchers.

This last photo shows the stretchers in place in the hall tree. Please note that the hall tree is resting on its back in this photo and that the photo shows a close up of the bench and below.

With the stretchers now fit in place, The entire seat assembly was glued. The photo below shows it during the drying process. 

As I stated earlier, certain parts of the hall tree really needed a new finish. The seat was naturally in the worst condition. This photo shows the seat with the surrounding areas taped off so that the finish can be removed.

This next photo shows the seat after the finish was removed and the seat was sanded.

The following photo shows the seat after it was stained to match the color of the hall tree.

The pediment of the hall tree consists of two carved outwards facing lions. Between these carvings in the center was evidence of a semi circular piece which bridged the two carvings. Again without a template, I took an educated guess as to what would have been there and cut an arch with a  simple "v" groove carved in it. This was also carved on the reproduction hall tree. Below you can see the pediment (removed) from the original hall tree with the new carving in place. Behind it in the photo is the reproduction pediment.The following photo is a close up of the carving followed by a photo of the carving stained to match the color of the pediment.

These next two photos show the turned stretchers before and after staining.

As stated earlier, one of the hooks had been broken at some point. I needed to have hardware made for  the reproduction hall tree, so we got an extra hook to replace the broken one. The photo below shows a complete hook on the the top with a reproduction made by Ball and Ball foundry below. 

This photo is a close up of the bottom of the hall tree and shows the refinished seat as well as the new turned stretchers.

These last photos show the hall tree after the restoration was completed. The brass bars across the top of the mirror are for holding hats with brims. There are two hooks on either side of the mirror. The next post will show completed photos of the reproduction as well as photos of the two hall trees side by side.

Completed Eastlake Desk (ca.1890)

I recently completed the restoration of a Walnut Eastlake secretary desk dating to around 1890. The finish on this piece was restored after a vigorous cleaning. Whenever it is possible, I like to leave the original finish intact and on this piece I was glad that this was possible. Below are a few photos of the final phases of the restoration process followed by several photos of the completed desk. If you are interested in looking at the repairs of this desk as well some photos of it in the condition that it came to me, you can follow the link below:

http://johnmarkpower.blogspot.com/2011/05/walnut-eastlake-cylinder-desk-ca-1890.html

Here is a photo of the desk after the finish had been cleaned and new finish had been amalgamated with the old. The back, cubbies, and desk lid had been removed initially for repairs and they were left out to make the finishing process easier.

Here is a photo of the cubbies, desk lid, and lower doors during the finishing process.
One thing I often do when restoring a piece is to replace missing or broken hardware. In this case, the casters that were on the desk were broken and needed to be replaced. Below is a photograph of the new casters in place followed by a close up showing the a caster. I usually go with casters that have an oxidized finish because they look more appropriate.

This photo shows the two original handles for the long drawer. The one on the left has been cleaned. To do this I use nothing but a little elbow grease and #000 steel wool.
Here are several photos of the desk completed with the lid closed and then open. The glass knob on the inside drawer was probably a replacement but has been with the piece for long enough that I decided to leave it.

Federal Walnut Chest of Drawers (Ca. 1800) Part 3

Below are some photos of the Walnut Federal Chest of Drawers I have been working on completed. Before these I put in a few close up shots of the pulls before and after.

This first photo shows the beautiful back plate with a rose motif. I believe that these are original to the chest. The one on the left is polished while the one on the right is not. I try not to use any products when cleaning brass , but just rely on fine steel wool and "Elbow Grease". Likewise, I don't coat the brass with lacquer or anything else so that it can tarnish again naturally. The shine doesn't last forever this way, But it sure is brilliant when freshly cleaned!
The Pulls before (Back Plates, Bails, and Posts)
And After.
From here on is a collection of photos of the chest completed. Some are taken inside and some out. I even got a friend to take a picture of me with the chest at the end. This was a wonderful example of early American Craftsmanship and was a joy to restore.