As the old varnish is coming. Off, the wood on my cabinet appears light coloured. It seems heavy like a hardwood but reminds me of a softwood in terms of the grain. The third photo is the inside of the top piece which is made of three pieces of joined wood. Are we looking at stained pine? Or could it still be oak?
Here is an example of the medal formerly known as Davidson's Trafalgar Medal that has been more accurately renamed as Halliday's Medal of Achievement. These medals were privately issued and often bear their recipients' names on their reverses
Restored by me. The lighter area was where I had to remove chewing gum during the restoration process. Is this beech?
I’m interested in the veneer on a card table I restored from the Depression era
I recently restored this beautiful Australian Depression-era card table in what I believe to be Australian red cedar. I found it on Facebook marketplace for next to nothing. The top veneer was curly and intact which is what drew me to the piece in the first place. I pick the old chewing gum off the base, took the entire assembly apart, polished the metal parts, sanded everything with 0000 steel wool, replaced the top baize, washed the jute straps and oiled with boiled linseed oil. Good as new!
Hi everyone,
This is an old medal collector’s cabinet that I would like to restore for my collection. There is a split down one side which you can see in the photographs. It starts off narrow at the top and widen towards the bottom. I can barely push the crack together with my hands. I want to glue the panel on the side back together as part of the restoration, but would like to know first whether this is the best option? I am worried that if I try and clamp the wood back together to glue, I might actually split another part of the top or the base. What is the group’s advice?
Further, I believe now that the wood is an oak. I am not sure what finish is on the cabinet as I only just received it. Knowing the fact that it was Australian, probably made in the 1970s, there is most likely shellac or something similar on the cabinet at the moment. Am I best off using paint stripper to strip this finish off? Or am I better off sanding off? I believe on the top of the cabinet there are some brown spots that might be paint. I might need to put stripper on these in which case it might be better to put stripper over the whole cabinet? The finish that I would like to use is danish oil because it is generally not acidic and therefore should not damage my medals. Danish oil is a finish that I am familiar with and I think that it would go well with the oak. What is the group’s advice on this?
Hi everyone, I just purchased this collector’s cabinet to house some of my collection. It was made in Australia I think and I’m wondering whether it is cedar or silky oak? Particularly I’m looking to choose a finish based on the wood