More Work Than I Expected

[jteneyck]

A lady asked me to strip this little table and make it look pretty. OK, sure.



I should have known better with all those little crevices in the carvings. Actually, I don't think they are carved. They look more like they were molded and then glued on the legs.



The finish was done with a combination of a base layer of white paint and then something that might have been brown lacquer or shellac on top to create that crackle look. The brown layer came off very easily; the white paint took a lot more work. I ended up stripping it twice and had to use a dental pick on nearly every crevice of those carvings to get all the paint specks out. I think it took me 5 or 6 hours all together.

But underneath all that nasty paint was some very nice mahogany. The top was a ring of solid mahogany with segmented veneer on top.



I wanted to put some color back into it and thought I would dye it with Transtint dye. I made up some dye in water and put some on the bottom just to check and it wouldn't even absorb into the wood. Must be I didn't get everything out of the wood even after stripping it twice and wiping it down with MS several times. So I switched to dye in DNA. Also no go. I ended up using Watco Danish Oil, a 50/50 mix of cherry and dark walnut, and that absorbed with no problems. This is what it looked like all lathered up before I wiped it off after 30 minutes.



The Watco was very easy to use and gave a nice uniform color with no blotching. After 3 days I applied a coat of Arm-R-Seal and that did not want to dry very well until I brought it upstairs where it was 75 deg. Even then it almost 3 days. Good grief what a pain this little table turned out to be.

Final pics to follow when done.

John

[AHill]

Sometimes what looks straightforward ends up taking more effort. So far, it looks really great. Do you still believe the carvings are really mouldings? If so, how did you get the color on them to match the rest of the table? I can see some difference in color for the upper moldings.

[FrankAtl]

I don't envy the process but the result is very nice!

I learned my lesson when I was a kid and tried to help my dad tried strip a table my mother got at an antique shop. He didn't have much patience and unfortunately the table didn't survive. Made nice kindling though!

Frank

[jasfrank]

Nice workmanship John. When I have stripped carved pieces I have used a coarse plastic bristle brush and it seemed to get most of the finish out of the grooves. But maybe I was using a more caustic stripper. What did you use for a stripper?

[jteneyck]

Allan, I do think they are moldings. For one, they are all exactly the same. But the greater evidence was that I damaged a little piece of one of them trying to pick out the paint. When the piece broke loose what was "inside" looked like compressed sawdust. The color doesn't match perfectly, nor do the solid mahogany cross pieces of the base. But it's getting more uniform as I added a couple of coats of Arm-R-Seal. The first coat was gloss, the second was satin, and that's where I am now. I think two more coats for everything but top. One more should do for that. Then I'll let it sit a few days and then rub it sparingly with some brown wax.

You can always second guess yourself on this stuff. There's nothing to really practice on so you are guessing as to what will work. I thought a lot about spraying dye or shellac toner on it to help unify the color, but decided against it as I wasn't confident I could get it on uniformly into the turnings of the legs. But I think it will look pretty good when I'm done - about 1000% better than when I got it. The lady has a granite top that sits in the hole in the top. Should look pretty nice.

John

[jteneyck]

I did use a coarse plastic bristle brush before the dental pick and you're right, it worked really well on much of the carvings and grooves. I used KleanStrip Premium stripper - see the can in the background. It's the best stuff I've found. If I had known of someone locally with a commercial operation (tank), however, I would have been tempted to take it to him/her.

John

[Paul K. Murphy]

Quote:

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When the piece broke loose what was "inside" looked like compressed sawdust.

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I think you may have composition ornament, or as we used to call it, compo.
This may help you to understand what you're dealing with: http://www.jpweaver.com/compo_heritage.html

[jteneyck]

That could be the stuff, Paul. Thanks for posting that link; it was very interesting.

John

[Paul K. Murphy]

I used to work in a shop that made trumeau like you see pictured here. The guy who did those was sort of an island to himself, but I watched and learned what I could.

[Steve N]

John, if it was easy to do then everyone would be doing it

It looks like you have it on the run though