Turning Appliques for a Walnut Plant Stand

Lately I have been working on a Victorian plant stand made of Walnut. To see other posts concerning the restoration of this piece you can follow the links below:

http://johnmarkpower.blogspot.com/2010/02/renaissance-revival-walnut-plant-stand.html

http://johnmarkpower.blogspot.com/2010/03/veneering-walnut-plant-stand.html

The last step in the repair process for this piece was to turn several ornamental appliques for the table that were either missing or badly damaged. Below are some photos of the turning of the new appliques.

Below is a picture of one of the broken appliques. the originals had a turned tenon which connected them to the piece. Each applique was about 1 inch in diameter.Here is a photo of the blank chucked in the lathe and ready for turning.The first step is to turn the basic shape as seen in the photo below.The shape is then refined and sanded and the last step is to turn the tenon seen behind the disc of the applique. After everything is finished then the tenon is separated from the rest of the blank using a band saw.Here are two of the appliques after being turned.The last step was to hand carve the four lines seen below into the discs.Here is a photo of one of the new appliques attached to the foot of the table. the one to the left facing the left of the picture is an original.

Veneering a Walnut Plant Stand

Recently I have been restoring a Walnut plant stand Ca. 1870. To view the first entry on this piece, follow this link:

http://johnmarkpower.blogspot.com/2010/02/renaissance-revival-walnut-plant-stand.html

When repairing the top of this table I noticed that the underside of the top had been veneered. The reason for this is that it is common practice to veneer both sides of a surface so that there is less of a chance that the surface will bow or move. If you ever look at the edge of a piece of plywood, you will notice that the plys are always in odd numbers. that is so there is an equal amount of tension on each side making the whole more stable. The same is true with veneering a table top. The problem here was that the top veneer was missing!

This table has had significant work done to it in the past so most likely the veneer was damaged and simply removed. The customer and I agreed to re-veneer the surface. Below are several photos of the process.

The first step was to prepare the surface by filling any indentations and sanding the surface to remove any old finish left over. Here is the prepared surface prior to veneering.

Here is the Walnut veneer chosen for the top.Once prepared, the top surface is coated with hide glue.The veneer was then laid in place and clamped for several days with ply wood and long blocks to make sure the entire sheet had good contact.Once removed, the sheet was glued to the top. You can see where the glue permeated the veneer in some places. this is sanded off before the veneer is finished.Here are two views of the veneered table with the veneer sheet trimmed to size. The veneer Will be stained lightly to match the color of the table before finish is applied.

Completed Renaissance Revival Plant Stand

Below are several photos of the completed Walnut plant stand with its veneered top. The color is the natural color of aged Walnut. Unlike most woods, Walnut lightens with age. The only part of the table that was lightly stained was the new veneer which was stained to match the color of the table. To view the complete restoration process for this piece follow the link below:

http://johnmarkpower.blogspot.com/search?q=plant+stand

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.

Walnut and Poplar End Table (Ca. 1930)

A Challenge! I received an end table made of Poplar with a Walnut book matched veneer top. The table was in pretty rough condition. The entire piece had been painted with pink paint and also had been used as a plant stand and as a result, the veneer had buckled from water damage. below are some pictures of the repairs and the beginning of the finishing process. I will post some photos of the completed piece when I am finished.

Below is a photo of the table as it came to me.This photo details the water damage to the veneer. I found that the joinery was entirely loose so I decided to dismantle the piece to remove the paint. this made the job a little easier. Below is a photo of the individual pieces once the paint was removed.The next two photos show the damage to the table top. Not only had the veneer loosened, but the top, which was made up of different plys, had delaminated.

Here is a photo of the top being glued. I chose to glue the veneer and the plys at the same time.With all of that loose veneer, there was only one place where the veneer was missing. below is are some photos of the veneer patch being cut and glued in place.The wood cut out to receive the patch.The patch being glued in place.This photo shows the base being glued.This last photo shows the table after the base had been stained. While the stain was drying I decided to coat the top. the base will match the top in color once the finish is applied.