My new desk, updated

[MarkSingleton]

Some here will recall this desk, which I picked up several months ago.
It is claro walnut and well over one hundred years old. There are nails
that hold some of it together, possibly repairs, that are the old square
ones.

   



Today was moving day.  As in out with the old desk and in with the new one.


I took the casters off.  They were apparently added sometime after the desk was
made.  And the mounting was definitely NOT done by the original builder.
While they did work, the support structure was somewhat suspect.

The casters themselves are steel or iron, can't tell which. The stems are tapered and
screwed into place. 

   


I just put a new floor in my office where this desk is going.  No way were those casters
staying.  Besides, the thing is just not that heavy and the pads I put on the bottom will
let it slide just fine. 

Meanwhile, the loose moulding on the left pedestal has been re attached.  I was able to
toe nail hammer home the original wrought nails where they belong. And re glued the 
joint.  

   

   

 It is obvious this was a well used desk in it's days. 

 Tomorrow it will get a new inset ( "pleather" ) top.  While I would much prefer a gold bordered
piece of real leather, the usual suspect ( Covid19 ) is keeping the local furniture medic out of
private homes. So the pleather goes on with a removable adhesive until upgrade time.

Once all is set I will add an overall shot in the office here.

Oh, and yes, I know I am missing that left handle on the bottom left drawer.
It too is on the 'someday' list!

[FS7]

My FIL's wife gave us two antique pieces of furniture, a dining table and a buffet, that are about 120 years old and made of white oak (solid lumber and highly figured veneer).

There are cut nails and square bolts in there as well. They were in immaculate shape for what they were.

But I bring this up because they also had old casters in very poor condition. I was able to replace them with very similar ones. I guess if your flooring choice precludes casters it doesn't matter, but in terms of antique restoration I think casters are least likely to be noticed and are quite easy to replace. Worth noting. These are the ones I used (worked with no modification):

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00004...UTF8&psc=1

[rwe2156]

I thought for a minute you were throwing it away and buying a new one.

Its a jewel!