Repairing panels in Antiqes - invisibly

[Tortoise]

Does anyone here have experience of repairing antique panels with the aim of making the repair as invisible as possible?
I've dealt with a blackened panel that has been crudely gouged out in an irregular shaped area of about 4" x 2" gradually filling the area with thin slices of timber and paying particular attention to the grain and finish of the final layer. My next challenge is to deal with a panel (also blackened) that has an irregular section at one side removed (i.e. there is nothing to begin the"rebuilding" on). The faulty area is again about 4" x 2" and the panel thickness just over 3/8ths. Again, the aim is a repair that preservs as much of the remaining panel as possible, is robust and a good match to the orignal grain and surface. I could begin by (labouriously) cutting a narrow slot around the perimeter of the cut-out at the mid-thickness of the panel and that would allow insertion of a thin section followed by rebuilding as in the first case, but can anyone suggest alternatie approaches based on what an experienced restorer would do?

 

[Dangermouse 2nd]

I did many years of restoration, I usualy cut out the damage, glue in a new piece of base wood then veneer it to match. Its impossible to make a repair completely invisible, so at times it just shows the history of a piece that it has a honest repair. I dont say make it stand out of course.

 

[Adam W.]

Does anyone here have experience of repairing antique panels with the aim of making the repair as invisible as possible?
I've dealt with a blackened panel that has been crudely gouged out in an irregular shaped area of about 4" x 2" gradually filling the area with thin slices of timber and paying particular attention to the grain and finish of the final layer. My next challenge is to deal with a panel (also blackened) that has an irregular section at one side removed (i.e. there is nothing to begin the"rebuilding" on). The faulty area is again about 4" x 2" and the panel thickness just over 3/8ths. Again, the aim is a repair that preservs as much of the remaining panel as possible, is robust and a good match to the orignal grain and surface. I could begin by (labouriously) cutting a narrow slot around the perimeter of the cut-out at the mid-thickness of the panel and that would allow insertion of a thin section followed by rebuilding as in the first case, but can anyone suggest alternatie approaches based on what an experienced restorer would do?

Can we see a photo or two ?

 

[Tortoise]

Of course. Both pieces date from around 1700, so matching the grain is one issue. Making the repair reasonably strong is another.
One piece has a slightly glossy finish from polish, the other quite plain and just stained. Dangermouse 2, did you find just cleaning up the edge and glueing in a base piece always held well enough?
The final result has to withstand some inspection.

 

[dickm]

Unless you are unbelievably lucky, you'll never exactly match the existing grain, timber just isn't reproducible like that. I'm with Dangermouse 2nd, choose a piece that is the nearest you can find for grain spacing and direction, make the best join you can, ideally parallel to or diagonal to the existing grain, then colour match. Joints exactly at right angles to the grain will always look glaringly obvious, diagonal ones less so.

 

[Tortoise]

Thanks. Agree about the matching and the direction of the join. Will do the best I can!

 

[Jacob]

Are you going to tell us what it is/was?
Is it worth restoring there is nothing there which looks worth conserving? Why not just reproduce/replace and stain to match?

 

[Tortoise]

They are panels from a distressed clock case, but that type of issue can occur in much antique restoration.

 

[Keith 66]

A few years ago i met a furniture restorer / cabinetmaker in Lancashire, Paul King, this guy does a lot of old furniture from rebuilds & restorations to occasional new stuff.
Seeing how he made invisible repairs was fascinating, He had a big stock of old wood & veneer sourced from old furniture & he would go to great pains to match veneer or timber, where the magic came in was in the finishing & polishing.
Once the repair was done it is always visible so the original base colour of the wood & its grain were painted in with tiny brushes, he used red ochre & yellow umber clay pigments mixed with various grades of shellac, once the woodgrain was painted in the whole thing was french polished. You simply could not see where the old wood stopped & new wood began.
Some of the projects were mindboggling, Probably the worst i saw was a black forest clock, big ugly ogre with clock set in his chest stick over his shoulder & animals hung from his belt. About 30" high It had been stood in a garden pond as an ornament for many years. I saw it grey & weathered with big carved lumps missing & a few months later it was back together new bits carved & polished to a rich brown that looked original, I couldnt tell where the old stopped & the new began. God knows how many hours it took.

 

[Tortoise]

A few years ago i met a furniture restorer / cabinetmaker in Lancashire, Paul King, this guy does a lot of old furniture from rebuilds & restorations to occasional new stuff.
Seeing how he made invisible repairs was fascinating, He had a big stock of old wood & veneer sourced from old furniture & he would go to great pains to match veneer or timber, where the magic came in was in the finishing & polishing.
Once the repair was done it is always visible so the original base colour of the wood & its grain were painted in with tiny brushes, he used red ochre & yellow umber clay pigments mixed with various grades of shellac, once the woodgrain was painted in the whole thing was french polished. You simply could not see where the old wood stopped & new wood began.
Some of the projects were mindboggling, Probably the worst i saw was a black forest clock, big ugly ogre with clock set in his chest stick over his shoulder & animals hung from his belt. About 30" high It had been stood in a garden pond as an ornament for many years. I saw it grey & weathered with big carved lumps missing & a few months later it was back together new bits carved & polished to a rich brown that looked original, I couldnt tell where the old stopped & the new began. God knows how many hours it took.

Yes, Keith 66 that's exactly the approach I would like to be able to achieve, but ofen the details are kept as trade secrets learnt over many years, although there are books on the basic approach. Undoubtedly there are many pices of "posh furniture" that have had skilled repairs. I keep all old timber, even small pieces, for various uses. Grain matching is a challenge as a lot of the 17th century items are made from baltic oak (to my understanding) with close and straight grain. I have two oak pieces that have had professional restoration and the work is impressive. I have to look hard to see the repairs that I know are there. In one piece, the patch edge is a wiggly curve.
Thanks for your story - brings a smile.

 

[Adam W.]

Then you'll need to get experimenting, which is something I love doing with woodwork.

It would be nice if you post your work as you go along, as I'm sure that you'll get an enthusiastic audience. If you can wait a while, I let you have some of the riven Baltic oak that I have under my bench in Kennington, London when I get there in a month or so.

You'll have to come and get it or cover the postage though.

 

[Tortoise]

Then you'll need to get experimenting, which is something I love doing with woodwork.

It would be nice if you post your work as you go along, as I'm sure that you'll get an enthusiastic audience. If you can wait a while, I let you have some of the riven Baltic oak that I have under my bench in Kennington, London when I get there in a month or so.

You'll have to come and get it or cover the postage though.

Patience and time will be my challenge. Thank you for the offer, but it will be a while before I have any results.

 

[Phill05]

Can I ask please If this is the seat board out of the clock I have to ask why would you want to repair it the cutout is for the pendulum to swing and the holes to fasten down the brass works non of which should be on view outside of the case.

 

[Tortoise]

Can I ask please If this is the seat board out of the clock I have to ask why would you want to repair it the cutout is for the pendulum to swing and the holes to fasten down the brass works non of which should be on view outside of the case.

Not quite as you suggest. Bracket / table clocks were often converted to use a different pendulum (correct) but many are now reconverted to their original state and all changes to the case also restored - as is the intention with the example I have. Yes, one image I shared was the seatboard but the second was the bottom of the case - neither had cut-outs when new.

 

[Phill05]

Ah I understand now, I could not workout were the second image "base" would be.

Thank you

 

[Keith 66]

Paul King has a small workshop at Crag Foot near Carnforth, seriously knowledgable bloke.

 

[AJB Temple]

An alternative approach. Use the old pieces as a template, and make new ones from old oak reclaimed from a dismantled antique wreck (auction rooms will need to be trawled). Or fume and finish new oak to get a close match. Keep the old pieces with the clock so that originality is maintained, and use reversible glues.

 

[Adam W.]

An alternative approach. Use the old pieces as a template, and make new ones from old oak reclaimed from a dismantled antique wreck (auction rooms will need to be trawled). Or fume and finish new oak to get a close match. Keep the old pieces with the clock so that originality is maintained, and use reversible glues.

You'd have to get the moisture content right and I would smoke blacken it instead of fuming it, but it's a very good solution.

 

[AJB Temple]

I find ammonia fuming in a sealed container (eg recycling box wrapped on outside of the box with clingfilm) for 36 to 42 hours on tea stained oak gives me quite a dark effect. If I wanted to smoke it after that (more messy) to get it darker, then that works too. It's hard to get an even effect on large pieces in my limited experience as a DIYer. Not an expert on this, but have experimented. I prefer this to using commercial wood stains though home made ones can work well on oak.

 

[Fergie 307]

This is an oak clock case. Something had been dropped on it causing a large dent and removing a splinter of the wood. Repair was made using an iron to raise the dent and some Ronseal filler in the splinter, smoothed down and some graining introduced using a stainless steel brush pen. Then a coat of finish, in this case French polish, to seal the wood and colour it initially. The area was then painted in using Humbrol enamel, carefully matched the the background colour, and to paint in the grain. Didn't take a before picture but If you look closely you can see an area just to the right of the edge moulding that looks a bit lighter. This is the area of the repair, about 10 mm long and 5 mm wide at the worst part. Around it you can see an area that looks a bit like a cartoon ghost in shape. This is the extent of where I have rubbed out the paint into the surroundings with an almost dry brush to fudge the edges. This has then had a further three or four coats of French polish. The splinter was out of the very edge of the top, next to the side moulding. It is quite a rustic piece with lots of variation in colour over the whole surface, which certainly helps.
I have done a few things like this over the years, with varying degrees of success. All techniques learned in my youth making models of tanks and aircraft etc. You just need a steady hand and some very fine brushes.