# Restoring a Pedestal desk



## Lukey (30 Aug 2007)

Hi all, newbie here! 

*FOR SOME REASON IT WONT LET MY PICS COME UP IF A MODERATOR COULD CHANGE PRIVELEGES ETC??
*
Posted this on an aus site before being redirected here, it may come across a little disjointed, but you will figure it out, as I have had replies throughout on the other forum!

I have always been very interested in restoring and reviving old furniture to something great again.
I bought a load of books and have read a lot about it, however there are some things that I am struggling with...

I bought this the other day, for less than £30!!! A couple of pics:





















I intend to document, photograph and display this from start to finish, on these forums, and get advice along the way from all you knowledgeable folk!

I can see a couple of things with the unit:

1) Scratched finish coating in general
2) Missing Handle
3) Scratched finishing coat on leather inlay
4) Warped drawer (hence its lack of prescence in the picture

I intend to do it in the following order:
1) Remove top, strip, recoat.
2) Rejuvinate and recoat the leather inlay.
4) Fix warpage on the drawer
3) Remove the top coat on each pedestal and drawer front, recoat.
4) Replace handle (or replace all handles?)


So, on to stage 1)

As you may be able to see, it has lots of scratches to the top surfaces of the varnish/shellac finish.

I removed the top from the upper carcass, it was held on with a few screws, so I could work on it properly.

I got some fine wire wool and meths on the wooden surface of the top, here is my first problems:

The meths and wool have removed the top layer, and some of the lower layers in places to bare wood. Will I be able to just coat these, or will I need to stain the bare wood to match the wood that has a couple of layers remaining before finish coating them?

Second problem is the removal has left deposits of the shellac in all the intricate grooves at the edges of the top. The deposits are now white and I don't know how to remove them.

Is the answer just to wipe ane wipe and wipe with clean cloths and meths until it all redissolves and comes off?


1) AGE - The desk is half solid, and half veneered chipboard...the veneer on this is about 3-5mm thick in places, so I believe that it dates from before 1950?
That date also tallies in with what I was told when I purchased it.

2) INTENTIONS - I am not looking for mirror finish or anything like that. I want to retain its current patination, and touch up/refinish all the scratches, hopefully retaining its character.

3) SOLID OR VENEER - As 1. There is a piece of the bracket feet missing which I am going tro have to completely replace...I am hoping that a piece of wood I have sourced from a broken beyond repair vicorian cabinet will suffice for this.

4) WARPED DRAWER - I have already solved the problem with the warped drawer, a quick shuffle about of the drawers and it looks like it was just in the worng hole They all fitr perfectly now, and are extremely snug.

5) MISSING HANDLE - I want to find handles to match, but I haven't a clue where to start looking. I have looked on ebay with no results...is there anywhere you guys/gals can point me to without having to cast a new one myself? This looks like a tricky process!

6) LEATHER - After giving the leather a really good clean with meths to take the top layer oflaquer off, it actually looks fantastic. There are a couple of nicks in the leather but I can live with that. You can't see them without really looking now. I am also happy that all the gilding has stayed perfectly in place, I was gentle around these areas. Hopefully a new covering of laquer will cover most of the small, tiny scratches in the surface. Would it be beneficial to 'feed' the leather with something before I recoat with laquer?

7) STEEL WOOL - Too late, I have already used it TBH it has given me a good result. I am trying not to take it back to bare wood, only remove the top layers, so hopefully it wont be too bad. What else would be preferable instead of steel wool? I don't like sanding as in my opinion it takes away too much of the marks that have built up over time. I would prefer to remove the top layer of polishes/dirt/grime and keep the patina underneath.

8) SANDING - There are a couple of very deep scratches to the top, instead of getting them perfectly smoothed I am just going to stain them and retain for character. To be honest, they are more pressure marks where its been knocked instead of scratches.

9) EXISTING FINISH - Dissolves easily with the meths, and resets quickly - I THINK it is shellac. The actual carcasses of the pedestals are OK as they are, so I will lgive them a good polish and that shuld suffice.
The drawer fronts and table top however does have scratches to the surfacework. This, I feel, I have no option but to rub back and recover with shellac.

Hopefully I will be able to retain its marks of age. I am struggling with a decision on one thing though - the front of the table top has worn to the edge because of its use over time. Now that I have the table top off, i am wondering wether to spin it around and refix it the other way round on the carcass so that the front edge is a good one.

My camera has decided to bust on me So I will have to borrow my sisters to get some progress pics...I am working pretty fast on it at the moment, most of the prep work on the carcasses and the table top is done.

Anyone have any thoughts on wetherI need to stain the bare sections of wood, or would a coat of shellac cover these missing sections up?...any tips on how to go about it to get a perfect colour match?
I think that I will need to get a fine brush and stain to match, then shellac/laquer over the top. Am I right?

Luke


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## Mike.C (30 Aug 2007)

Hi Luke, welcome to the forum. One of the mods will be along soon to sort your photos out.

Cheers

Mike


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## ByronBlack (30 Aug 2007)

It's just because your new, after a few posts, you'll have the ability to add photo's.

Welcome to the forum by the way!


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## PowerTool (30 Aug 2007)

Hello and welcome to the forum  
The spaminator stops you posting links until you have made three posts (I think) - until then,here the pictures are :-



Lukey":36fp5kfc said:


>



Andrew


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## Paul Chapman (30 Aug 2007)

Lukey":3dc8t6sy said:


> Would it be beneficial to 'feed' the leather with something before I recoat with laquer?



Hi Luke,

Welcome to the forum. Liberon do a very nice leather cream for treating and maintaining things like leather desk tops. It's available in the standard colours - green, brown, red and neutral. I would use that rather than coating it with any sort of lacquer.

Cheers :wink: 

Paul


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## DaveL (30 Aug 2007)

Hi Luke,

Welcome to the forum.

Andrew is correct, once you have a few more posts your pictures will show up.

There are some members who are very good restorers, if you wait a bit hopefully one will be along to comment.


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## Lukey (30 Aug 2007)

So I only need to get about 3 posts...hmmm, for the next instalment then:

I have done quite a lot today indeed!


First, finished stripping off the top, and cleaning the leather.





Then I went on to begin staining the top so that it almost colourmatched.
Before and after pics
















There was also a piece of moulding that was missing on the upper carcass, I have fashined and replaced this with a completely new piece of wood, sanded it down and stained it to match as much as I can.






So, after doing this, I still had a load of spare time. I set about starting the drawers, as you can see there is a lot of discolouration to the wax, there is lots of grease and grime built up, and loads of little scratches that can't be made out in this picrure...





First I gave the fronts a good going over with wire wool:




Then stained all the moulding and nicks in the surface that needed it. The intention was never to perfectly match the colour, so it still looked worn.


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## Lukey (30 Aug 2007)

A bit of finishing wax and a good buff later, the result of the drawers after 3-4 layers of wax and polish:






This seems to be the finish I am looking for, as I said ealier I don't want it mirror finish at all. The nicks that you can see near to the handle holes are where the backplates have spikes that sit in the wood, this ill all be hidden when it is completely put back together.


Now that the stain has dried on the top, I have given it a once over of varnish with a thin coat. I am going to brush this down with the fine grade steel wool, and give 4 or so coats to it. Then get some pics!

I have also repaired some of the carcasses - the top was missing a support, I have made a new one and glued it in place..with pre drilled holes for fixing to the worktop..I was wondering wether to also screw it in, but the existing ones are only glued?





5 slamplates were missing from behind the drawers. I figured that the reason they have broken is probably due to continued closing of the drawer fronts onto them. I measured and cut replacements from old thin plywod (matching) and decided to glue and nail using blunted tack pins to prevent them breaking off in the future.
Old one




New one




Just need a stain and seal.

I am still undecided and uneducated on which type of sealant/ laquer to use on the leather surface, if anyone has any advice. And still looking for those handles.

I have to fashion a new part of thebracketfoot, if anyone has any advice on the best way to do this?






All in all, I think its looking pretty good and I am (so far!) happy with the result.

Comments from anyone as to progress - good or bad? Any thing I could have done better? All tips welcome as I have just bought another one to do


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## Lukey (30 Aug 2007)

It was going too well...first problem.

I gave the worktop 3-4 brushed coats of quick drying varnish, smoothed between each layer. This morning I went to start polishing it a bit with wax...ended up with this mess:





I think I know the reasons, and its stupidly "school boy error"! If you look back to where I stripped the top back, one layer of the old laquer was left on. I ran stain over the entire thing, instead of using a coloured varnish. I think this has led to the stain not penetrating and just sitting on top of the old finish, which is obviously not what it is designed for.

Also, the stain is spirit based and the varnish is water based , resulting in a difficulty in covering the freshly stained bare wood parts...


So, wasted a lot of time with that stupid error or judgement, but hey, we live and learn. Its the only way we can improve. So, lets look onwards.

What will be the best thing now?

I am thinking at the moment - Strip the water based varnish off, strip the stain overlay off, then find an oil based coloured varnish and build up layers until the colour is correct, then clearcoat with oil based?

I don't want to rub the original finish off completely unless I have to as it does have good patination in places.

Am off to bed now, worked nights last night until 7am, and at the time of posting this its 9am in England. Hopefully someone will come up with some good suggestions for me to crack on with when I wake..or tomorrow.

Thanks folks


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## ByronBlack (30 Aug 2007)

Hi, I have no knowledge of restoration, but just wanted to say; very interesting thread, and i'll be intrigued as to the progress of this piece, you seem to be making some good progress and hopefully some of our skilled members can help you out a bit!

Out of interest, what type of stains are you using?


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## Lukey (30 Aug 2007)

Using Colron stains, applied with a brush.


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## Fecn (30 Aug 2007)

Hi Lukey,

Believe it or not, I have *exactly* the same desk, and it's in just about the same condition as your one. I'm very interested to read how your restoration goes, because I will inevitably end up doing the same thing to my one.

Welcome to the forum. 

Cheers,

Fecn.


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## Evergreen (31 Aug 2007)

Lukey

Blimey! You're going at such a a speed that I only hope I can type fast enough.
I'm no expert but I've restored an old oak gate leg table that I inherited. The frame was French polished but the top had lost most of its finish because my grandmother had used it as an ironing board! I stripped the top with a cabinet scraper and then refinished with an oil/stain mixture made by Ronseal called All in One. By great good fortune, the colour match between the top and the frame turned out to be spot on. The advantage of the oil finish is that it's tough as old boots but can be refinished easily if something unfortunate does happen. I also like its "natural" look.
So, unless one of the experts turns up and suggests something different, I'd strip back to a surface that you think will accept another finish, and then use an oil/stain mixture rather than a stain + varnish.

Regards.


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## devonwoody (31 Aug 2007)

Lukey, I'm pleased to see you found your way here. :wink:


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## Lukey (24 Sep 2007)

HI all, a quick update, I have almost finished and its already sold for about £200, so a healthy profit.  

Finished pictures:














One question that I have...
How do I make this:




Look like this:


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## devonwoody (24 Sep 2007)

Lukey, well done.

I expect you wil drive our prefessionals wild. :roll:


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## Anonymous (24 Sep 2007)

Lukey":27wo7efn said:


> One question that I have...
> How do I make this:



Get yourself invited over to Fecn's so that you can advise him on his restoration. :lol: :lol: 

Cheers,
Neil

PS I'll get my coat.


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## Lukey (24 Sep 2007)

devonwoody":2cmxdx3i said:


> Lukey, well done.
> 
> I expect you wil drive our prefessionals wild. :roll:



Thanks.

Drive them wild? In what respect?


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## Fecn (24 Sep 2007)

Carter":2kyaw570 said:


> Get yourself invited over to Fecn's so that you can advise him on his restoration. :lol: :lol:



So Lukey... when are you coming round to do mine?


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## Fecn (24 Sep 2007)

These may look familiar... Though I see I have different handles to you.
edit: ... and your wood looks far nicer.. much better grain patterns


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## DomValente (24 Sep 2007)

Is it solid brass or hollow


Dom


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## Lukey (24 Sep 2007)

Its solid brass.


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## DomValente (24 Sep 2007)

There are two ways.

Make a mix of 50/50 water and amonia drop the handle in and leave for a few hours then rinse off thoroughly

Or.

*This way is dangerous *

You will need a blow torch, nitric acid and a dark wax polish, heat proof gloves, goggles and pliers.

Hold the handle with pliers and dip into the nitric acid, heat for about 15 seconds then allow to cool a little and dip into the wax burn off the wax allow to cool and then rub with hessian or rough cloth

Dom


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