January 12, 2012
Wow, what a busy few weeks this has been. The Victrola restoration and conversion is just about complete. This has been a big project, and it is beautiful. I completed some impossibly difficult repairs on a couple Victorian chairs over the last few weeks as well as the restoration of a gorgeous antique desk. Before long I’ll be knee deep in chairs once again as there is much cane work to be completed and a few rush chairs on their way.
December 6, 2011
This week I’m finishing up the last of four rush chairs, restoring two antique side chairs, restoring an antique desk, and a few other ongoing projects as well. Got a couple chairs in last week that were chewed up by a little dog, so those will be finished this week as well. Sometimes it’s so nice to have a somewhat minor repair. The worst of the worst is usually what ends up here.
Met a nice couple today that brought me a butcher block table that was in a house hit by a tornado some years ago. Apparently the table was one of the few things not completely destroyed, but it wasn’t far behind. It’s jig saw puzzle of pieces and should be fun to repair.
Working a lot of hours these days to catch up… but I never do! I guess I can’t complain…
November 28, 2011
The theme this week is: caning! I never seem to run out of chairs to cane. I bought an old chair over a year ago that I refinished, and it’s been sitting here waiting for a hand woven cane seat ever since. I just never get caught up enough to work on my own projects. Staring at cane for too many hours tends to make me a little stir crazy, but there’s plenty of restoration work waiting and I’ll be working on a few other projects in between the caning sessions.
November 14, 2011
This week I’m making a couple leaves for an old table. Funny how the leaves seem to disappear over the years. This is an interesting table in that it has drop leaf ends and a space in the center to pull apart for more central leaves. The challenge is making the new leaves match the old beat up table! I will improve the table’s surface a bit for a better match.
Every year I get swamped with chairs right before Thanksgiving, and this year was no exception. Seems all I have done is repair broken joints, fix cracked backs, and cane or rush seats. This week I’m hand caning two chairs with a lot of holes and very small gauge cane. The same owner brought me another caned chair to refinish, and that is almost done as well. Then it’s back to rushing – 4 chairs to finish over the next week or so before I get back into the waiting stack of restoration work.
October 24, 2011
I’ve been swamped with chairs! 16 chairs are in the shop this week for caning, rushing, repair, and some refinishing. I also am in the process of converting an old Victrola into a dry bar. Other projects include a pie safe restoration, back bar construction, and a whole line of cabinets and dressers awaiting restoration work.
