American Empire Chest of Drawers (ca. 1830)

The Completed Chest

I have written a fair amount about American Empire period furniture on this blog. This furniture was produced from around 1830 to around 1860. The use of thin veneers of crotch mahogany over a substrate of a cheaper domestic wood, in this case pine, allowed for an inexpensive means of mass produced furniture with fantastic results. In the case of this chest, every surface was veneered, including the sides and top. Where it mattered most, like the top and drawer fronts, sequenced pieces of fancy crotch veneer were used in a bookmatched pattern to display the dramatic grain of mahogany.

This piece was made using a mixture of machinery, like circular saws, and hand work, like hand cut dovetails. To me, one of the most interesting aspects of this period is seeing the introduction of mass production techniques and what the craftsmen could accomplish with the use of machines and what was still necessary to do by hand. As the 19th century progressed, more of  these procedures were accomplished with the use of machines, culminating in the machine made dovetail (ca. 1900). During the American Empire period, most of the work was still done by hand.

The chest was in pretty rough shape. The finish had darkened and deteriorated to the point that it became necessary to remove the finish and put a new French Polish on it. The case and drawers also needed work, both on structural and cosmetic levels. Below are a few photos of the piece with the finish removed.

In this photo, you can see the second long drawer down is in askew. This is due to the missing interior runners that would work as guides and support for the drawer. Also note the missing escutcheons on the two center long drawers.

 The top of the case as well as the top of the glove drawers were veneered with bookmatched crotch mahogany, like the drawers. The top of the case had developed a significant crack along the grain. The glove box top had warped severely as well

 

The case sides, veneered with straight grain mahogany, were also cracked.

 This photo shows the stretcher between the ogee drawer and the lower long drawer removed. The glue had failed and re-gluing this tightened up the case quite a bit. The following photo shows the stretcher being glued.

 

 

 These next two photos show the top of the glove drawers  being glued and straightened. Jesse, who did this repair, came up with some clever clamping!

 

 The crack in the top (seen in the next photo) was patched by means of wedges that were inserted and then, once the glue was dried, carved down flush with the surface of the top. The entire repair was later touched up.

       

The existing interior runners were significantly worn, so they were removed. The wear flattened with a hand plane (as seen in the next photo) and the runners were put back in place. The missing interior runners mentioned above were made using old pine stock and fit to the case.

These next two photos show the drawers in case while finish was being applied. Note the brass escutcheons in the drawers. Two were missing and replaced.

The remaining photos show the completed chest. Jesse took some interesting photos of the case with a filter on, making the piece appear darker. I included these because they show the dramatic grain of the crotch mahogany.

Making a Key for an English Lever Lock

Every Time I restore a chest of drawers or cabinet that has locks, I take the locks out of the piece, clean them, and, if no key is present, I cut a new key that works the lock. After I cut the new key, I always think to myself "I should have taken pictures of how I did that!". So this time, I did.

The lock in question was a lock out of an English armoire I have been restoring. The piece was signed and dated October 11th, 1902, so I know that the lock is about one hundred years old. The type of lock is called a lever lock, which I will describe below. If you are interested in learning a bit about antique locks, take a look at this article on them:

http://www.worthpoint.com/blog-entry/keys-to-antique-furniture-locks

One of the most important things to have when you are making keys for locks is a large stockpile of keys of various shapes and sizes. I collect old 19th and 20th century keys that can often be re-cut to work a lock. I also have several new keys which look old and are uncut, giving me the widest range of possible cuts to make in the key.

Below is a photo of the lever lock, with the key I chose to work with to the right. This is a reproduction Barrel key that I chose because the outer diameter of the key shaft fit the hole in  the lock case and the blade was a little too long, giving me plenty to work with. A barrel key is one where the end of the shaft is bored out so that it can fit over a post in the lock.

The very first step is to remove the lock housing from the lock. This is held to the lock with two metal tangs that fit into mortices in the lock plate, which are peened over. By hitting the ends of these tangs with a screw driver you can release the housing from the lock plate, revealing the mechanism within. This second photo shows the lock with the housing removed.

As stated above, this lock is known as a lever lock. What this means is that besides the bolt which is moved by the key to engage the lock, there is a gate known as a lever that is also moved so that the bolt can be engaged. As the key turns in a lock, the blade length has to be right to engage the bolt as it swings around. The blade length needed to move the lever is different, so a second cut is needed to move the lever simultaneously. A tab of brass is attached to the bolt that moves with it, and passes through a window cut out of the lever. The cut on the key must move the lever enough to move this tab from one side of that window to the next and over a little ridge. This is also what keeps the lock in an open or closed position. Too much of a cut on the key will not push the lever into position for this to happen. Too little of a cut will make the lever move past the position it needs to be in.  Sometimes their can be up to three levers all requiring different cuts on the key, making this a tricky lock. This lock had one lever, so it was relatively simple to work on.  One other thing I might add is that the lever also has the spring attached to it which provides tension for the lock. If one were to try to remove the lever (making life simpler), the lock would not work. Below is a photo of the lever removed from the lock. we will get back to that later.

After the lever is removed, it is important to make sure that the key can pass through the lock housing and that the blade is long enough to engage the bolt and throw the lock. The key I chose fit all of the criteria with the exception that the blade was a little long. This is a good thing, because it is easy to file off the excess metal. The trick is to not file off too much metal, or the key will not work the lock and you need a new key. The photo below shows two keys from the same batch. The one on the left is the one that I cut for this lock. if you look at the blades, you can see that the one on the left is a bit shorter.

Below is a photo of the lock plate and the bolt. You can see in the lock plate where the previous key has left circular scratches from being turned over and over again. In this photo the bolt is in the thrown position.

Once the key blade was cut to the right length, it turns on the post and engages the bolt, moving the bolt back and forth from locked to unlocked position. In addition to making the blade the right length, it is sometimes important to round the corners of the blade so it engages the bolt smoothly. The next three photos are of the key working the bolt.

Once this was accomplished, I brought the lever back into the equation. Upon doing this I realized that the key blade and shaft was not touching the lock plate. While not critical, this could potentially interfere with the lock working properly and put unnecessary strain on the post, so the answer was to bore out the hole in the end of the key a bit so the key sat firmly on the lock plate when it was fully pushed into the lock. This also is important for alignment with the various components in the lock, including the lock housing. Below is a photo of the key before. you can see that the key is sitting high and off of the lock plate.

In this photo, the key has been bored out and the key is resting on the lock plate.

After this was accomplished, the second cut was made to operate the lever. This is seen in the photo below as a notch taken out of the lower right corner of the key blade. If you find an old key with notches taken out of the bottom edge of the key, that key was originally used to operate a lever lock.

The next few photos show the key operating the lock with the lever in place. The spring (which looks like a bobby pin) is seen to the right of the key going off at a diagonal. This would be compressed against the side of the lock housing and keep the lever under tension.

Once it was determined that all of the cuts and key adjustments were working I oiled the parts and put the lock housing back in place, putting the lever under tension. I then tried the key which operated the lock successfully. This can be seen in the last two photos below.

It is slow and fine work, but as long as a lock is in good shape, a new key can be made for it and it can operate successfully. One word of caution. If you are trying this yourself, make sure that if multiple locks are going to be using the same key, that you try the key in each lock to make sure it works. sometimes the key needs to be further adjusted for multiple locks and often, a lock will have been replaced, that will use a separate key entirely. Also, make sure the key locks and unlocks the lock successfully with the door or drawer not in the case. This way, the lock can be removed and the key adjusted. The worst case scenario is that the key throws the lock, but does not unlock it,and you have done this in the case, so the lock is locked and cannot be unlocked easily!

In the time that this furniture was made, it was important to be able to lock a piece of furniture that housed your personal belongings. In the 18th century, houses did not often have locks, and it would be an important security measure to keep you chests and wardrobes locked up. In today's world, this is not a necessity, but I feel that it is an important part of the restoration of the piece I am working on. If it is possible to get a lock (or locks) working again I will make sure they operate well.

Mahogany Dining Room Table with Tulip Wood Banding (Ca. 1920)

The Completed Table

With the holidays comes the inevitable restoration of a dining room table or two and this year has been no exception! One of the tables we restored before Thanksgiving was this beautiful veneered mahogany dining table. There was no name associated with this table save the name on the slides which was the  Watertown Table Slide Company. The Watertown Table Slide Company, of Watertown, Wisconsin, produced table slides for nearly 100 years before being bought by Reiss Industries in 1985. Like Walters of Wabash, the company produced slides for other manufacturers to use in the construction of expanding dining tables. With this in mind, the table itself was not produced by the Watertown Table Slide Company, only the slides. For a look at some history on the company, you can follow the link below. My favorite part is the advertisement stating that the slides work so well that "the gentle effort of a child will extend the table at both ends." I have yet to meet a table where this is the case, but it is nice to dream!

http://www.watertownhistory.org/articles/watertowntableslide.htm 

What I can say about this table is that it is a reproduction made in the style of Hepplewhite. The primary veneer used on this table is mahogany, and the table is inlayed with stringing on all of the primary surfaces, including the legs and aprons. The stringing was made up of a light wood (probably holly) and a wide inner band of tulipwood. A bit of clarification here. By tulipwood, I do not mean tulip poplar, which is an American hardwood, but a exotic hardwood found in Brazil that comes from the Dalbergia family, the same family that produces rosewood. Tulipwood was used in the 19th century as a banding material much like satinwood. When first cut or sanded, the wood has streaks of pink to red lines with a pinkish white back drop. As the wood oxidizes over time the red fades from the wood leaving the streaks brown. In some cases fading due to sunlight will almost completely mute the varigation. The other woods used in the banding are probably ebony or perhaps some other darkwood. The combination of these woods is quite nice and contrasts the mahogany backdrop accentuating the lines of the table.

This table had a pretty worn out finish that masked a lot of the design discussed above. The customer and I decided it would look best with a new finish. The table was also in need of repair to the joinery of the aprons and base as well as gluing of loose veneer. below are some photos of the table before, during, and after restoration.

These first two photos show the table before restoration. The second photo shows the inlay on the top barely visible through the old finish.

This photo shows the stamped label for the Watertown Table Slide Company. established in 1889.

These next two photos show missing section on the interior of the apron where the aprons meet the legs. As the table was moved around over the years the pressure from the legs being moved caused them to bend against the apron causing sections to crack and break out.

This photo shows the most severe damage to the joinery. The leg should be vertical, but instead is skewed inward.

To repair this damage, the legs and aprons were removed from the top of the table. The top can be seen top down in the photo below. All of the joinery was disassembled and cleaned of its old glue and missing sections were patched with wood. Once the repairs were made the apron and legs were reassembled with new glue and attached to the top. Several photos of patches being glued in place are seen following the photo below.

Once the table was reassembled, new glue blocks were installed where the legs meet the inside of the apron where necessary to help add support to the legs. These can be seen in the photo below on either side of the leg.

A small amount of the banding was missing in places. Replacement banding was glued in place as seen in the photos of some replaced edge banding below.

As stated above, there was a fair amount of loose veneer on the table. The old glue was cleaned out from the veneer and new hide glue used to glue it in place. While the glue dried, the veneer was held in place by what looks like an excessive amount of clamps. This clamping helps insure that there are no bubbles in the veneer and that it laid flat. Sometimes so many clamps are used that it is hard to see the furniture that they are clamping!  

Once the repairs were completed, the table was sanded and a French polish was applied. The natural color of the mahogany was stunning and the table was stained selectively to match that color.

These last few photos show the table fully restored