Woodworker's Journal 1980-4-5, страница 11

Restoring Antiques

by John W. Olson

The 19th century clipper ships brought many items from the Orient and one of the most popular was a low, round, carved table. A very few were made from camphorwood and I had the pleasure of restoring and refinishing one of these tables. It was about 20" high and 24" in diameter and of a most interesting construction and decoration. The four legs were cut in a flat "S" curve whose upper part curved outward from just below the rails to a greater degree than the reversed inward curve which descended to the foot. Each leg was about 3Vj" wide at the top and fell straight for 6", the width of the rails, before curving outward. Below the rails each leg tapered gently to VA" at the foot. A fanciful flowering carved vine climbed each leg and then entwined itself along the rails, carved so as to pierce the rails. The rails and each leg composed one quadrant of the base. This was topped by a round cover inlaid with nacre and carrying an ogee molding around the periphery. Apparently tne carving had been done after assembly as it ran unbroken from one piece to the other.

A clever system of pinned mortise and tenon joints held the table together. No glue had been used. Each end of the rails carried a tenon that reached not quite halfway into a through mortise cut in the upper end of each leg. The tenons were then pinned by whittled wooden pegs which protruded slightly on the back side. This wasn't apparent on the outside of the rails as the blind hole only partially penetrated the far side of the mortise.

Considering its age and probable history, the table was in remarkably good shape. In a few places, some pieces of

carving were missing, but for the most part it suffered only a few dents and scratches. Surprisingly, the top was in almost perfect condition. The joints presented the most difficult problem. All of them were loose, victims of the dry air that goes hand in hand with most 20th century heating systems. Exposed to dry air, the wood dried and shrank, resulting in loosened joints. Before repairing the dents and scratches, I first had to work on the joints.

Since the original had been built without using any glue, I felt the joints could best be repaired by disassembling the table, then refitting the parts and rejoining with epoxy adhesive. It turned out to be comparatively simple. Disassembly only required that the pins be carefully drilled out. A little refitting was necessaiy to make the legs fit tight against the rails. The missing pieces of carving were replaced by fitting in small blocks of teak, then carving them to match the general motif. The loose joints were reassembled using wood-bonding epoxy adhesive. Epoxy has excellent gap filling properties, making it a good choice for loose fitting joints such as this. (Editor's Note: John Olson lists several good epoxy adhesives in his May/June 1980 column). A new set of pins were prepared and glued in place.

Next, the original finish (an alcohol based varnish) was stripped. A wet rag and hot iron steamed out all but the worst dents. Those that couldn't be steamed out were filled with wood putty. The entire table was then given a thorough sanding to remove any scratches and smooth the wood putty filler. The approximate appearance of the original finish was reproduced by applying several coats of black lacquer. The nacre on top was in good shape and was sealed before application of the lacquer with a clear polyurethane varnish finish. A rub down with 0000 steel wool and application of a carnauba based furniture wax left a muted glowing surface, completing the restoration.

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