Bringing Brass back to life.

I love this product! Tarnex is simply amazing at removing tarnish. As you can see from the picture, it really makes a huge difference. Once the tarnish has been taken out, it is always a good idea to seal it in before it tarnishes again. I use a brass lacquer from Mohawk finishing products.

How to Strip Furniture

    The best way to strip the finish off of wood is to use chemicals, don't even think about trying to sand it off.  I get half done projects in my shop all the time, most of which people have sanded like crazy and then given up when the going gets tough. This is not the way to get the job done effectively, it costs so much more in wasted sandpaper, skin from your fingers, and mountains of patience, plus it doesn't get the finish out of the grain of the wood

 
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    So what is the answer.... well ..chemical stripper... Brush some of that stuff on almost any finish and it will take it off in a matter of minutes. The trick is to let the stripper do most of the work, letting it soak in, so it can eat away while slowly sinking deeper and closer to bare wood. Then it must be naturalized with some kind of solvent or what I like to use, lots of hot water and a scrubbing brush.



    As you can see with this dresser it stripped really well, almost all of the finish residue is out of the grain ready for a nice even coat of stain.


                                                                             

Ugly Chair of the Week #33




This picture speaks for its self, but there`s hope...
I`ll be posting the refinished & reupholstered chair later this month.

Great before & after

Here is an interesting project, an ugly painted secretary with many multiple coats of old paint. Most of the time this kind of project would not be worth doing, but its a family piece and means a lot to the owners.

So after much stripping we finally made it to bear wood, apply a rich stain & glaze and wow what a difference.

 

Diana shares the story of her beautiful little chair

This chair and other caned bottom chairs I have were always in my Grandmother's home.
As a small child we would visit her in Western New York and I remember sitting at the dining room table on this chair.
I was very small and she would place books on the seat to bring me up to the right height to eat at the table.
As a widow Grandma moved to the Denver area to be closer to family. The cottage she lived in was small, but these treasured chairs ringed the table.
In the early 1950's I remember going with my Mother to take these chairs to be recaned by blind people that lived in the area.
Now I am a Grandma of ten grandchildren and when they come to my home my newly caned bottom chair is ready for kids of all sizes to use when they sit at the table.
When I brought the chair to you it was wobbly, unstable and the cane bottom was broken.
Thank you for bringing this chair back to life to be enjoyed by future generations of our family.
Your work is beautiful.

What does Santa get up to in the summer? He gets his mini sleigh fixed...

   Beautiful carved panel

  

What a great project, we started with just the panel in the middle. The client had found this beautiful French carved wall panel and had a vision of turning it into a headboard. She turned to myself and a talented furniture maker (Jason Wood), to fabricate posts and a bottom rail. Jason did a fantastic job of matching the early 18th century hand planed cherry, then I finished off the process by recreating the aged color and polished finish. The photo doesn't do it justice, it's now a unique and wonderful piece.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

The Pope`s walnut server



So the story goes, this beautiful walnut server belonged to the Pope and resided in his residence in Paris. The story however doesn't say weather it was Paris France or Paris Texas or even which Pope. Behind each one of those panels is a safe with a separate key for each, I don`t know what was kept in the safes but I do know that it `s extremely heavy and takes four guys to move it!

Missile - Something a little out of the ordinary

A simple  spent shell from a Navy ship.
We turned a new head from poplar, then finished it with a brass looking lacquer. It was a fun job, not something Ive seen before in my workshop.

                                                                                    

Oak table lamp rack

How about this for an "interesting piece" It was hand made by a clients father  from quarter sawn oak and combines the features of a table , a lamp, plus a book & magazine rack.
What more could you want? It was quite difficult to capture this piece in a photo, I hope you can appreciate it from these pictures. The carved stem is amazing, fashioned from one piece of wood it spirals up as two separate turnings only coming together at the top and bottom. When it came to me it was broken in several places on the twisted stem above the table, the finish was also in very poor shape. I rebuilt it, made the repairs to the stem, then finished it with a lacquer and finally a few coats of wax. It came out great, maybe not everyone`s cup of tea but certainly unique.