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Restoration Gallery


Golden Oak Restorations

Page 5

Links to Golden Oak Page | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |

Golden Oak Teacher's Desk

This was a good find, maybe there's hope yet for good garbage picks! In the shop now, this is an early 1900's Teacher's desk or simple office desk. Eric discovered it along the way of his daily migration to work. If we could just find one piece of furniture like this a day, we would be set with a great source of income! The desk was restored, and posted for sale shortly after completion on Ebay.

Restoration is simple enough, we decided to strip the piece of it's lacquer finish and sand down several sections beginning to splinter. A few veneer bubbles to repair, and apply a hand rubbed tung oil finish.

Artisans of the Valley - Golden Oak Teachers Desk Before Restoration Artisans of the Valley - Golden Oak Teachers Desk Before Restoration

Before Above

After Below

Artisans of the Valley - Golden Oak Teachers Desk After Restoration Angle Front

Artisans of the Valley - Golden Oak Teachers Desk After Restoration Back

Artisans of the Valley - Golden Oak Teachers Desk After Restoration Angle
Artisans of the Valley - Golden Oak Teachers Desk After Restoration Front View

Hand Crafted Family Heirlooms

Unrestored Family Heirloom Oak Harvest Table

This unique oak table was crafted by our client's grandfather - apparently a furniture maker of reasonable skill. The angles of the legs, mortis and tenon work, inset butterflies in the surface, and we're not sure who did the actual carving all indicating someone took a great deal of time to design and create this table. Hand made or mass produced, furniture is furniture and faces it's lifetime of abuse. This table apparently became a picnic table somewhere along the line, and perhaps a workbench within its life, we couldn't imagine that it was intended for outdoors with the original work to create it.

In any case - the table arrived with the classic gray patina of outdoor oak, approximately 50 years old. The wood was extremely dry and brittle, the top was separated and the glue long gone, butterflies shrunk out of their useful holding positions, and the hardware was rusted almost into nothing. Many pieces come into our shop in seriously poor condition such as this, a good portion are beyond repair - but this one had potential and was of sentimental value to our client.

We set out completely disassembling the piece and cleaning out old glues, repairing the joints, saving the old dowels, and rebuilding the entire piece. Imparting moister, restoring the life to the wood - and brining a new rich finish to the piece turned it into a work of art. Although we thought to attempt maintaining the gray - it was too far gone resulting in the surface turning black with contact of the finish. We sanded it through, and uncovered the oak beneath brining out a very warm rich honey color without application of any stain at all - just the use of a quality garnet shellac and multiple coats of tung oil varnish.

Not a true antique - but still worthy of note, we enjoyed this project and did our part for a family's heritage to continue into their modern life.

Artisans of the Valley - Family Heirloom Oak Harvest Table


Stickley Style Library Table

This was an interesting restoration, what to do with a completely shot veneer top in quarter sawn white oak. The piece is technically worthless without a top, the damage went through not only the decorative surface veneer layer, but into the underlayment as well.

Quarter Sawn Golden Oak Library Table After Restoration - Front AngleQuarter Sawn Golden Oak Library Table Before Restoration - Front Angle

Quarter Sawn Golden Oak Library Table After Restoration - Top AngleQuarter Sawn Golden Oak Library Table Before Restoration - Drawer

Quarter Sawn Golden Oak Library Table After Restoration - Top SurfaceQuarter Sawn Golden Oak Library Table Before Restoration - Top Surface

Many golden oak pieces were double layer veneers, a cross hatched (perpendicular grain) of either oak on oak or oak and poplar were the most common configurations. In this case, both the oak and poplar layers were removed to reveal the substrate.

Quarter Sawn Golden Oak Library Table In Progress Restoration - New Top VeneerQuarter Sawn Golden Oak Library Table In Progress Restoration - Stripped Top SurfaceQuarter Sawn Golden Oak Library Table In Progress Restoration - Veneer in Progress In Clamps

Once the top was cleaned, we prepared a 3/16" book matched white oak laminate to replace the damaged surface. For mirrored patterns, all sliced from the same plank were secured and banded with mitered corners to create a unique and ornate tabletop.


Artisans of the Valley - Golden Oak Coffee Table Before Restoration

Golden Oak - Coffee Table

Arriving in pieces, this flood damaged table will soon be returned to a fully functional refinished piece.

A common failure of substantial water damage is the old glue. Often hyde glue or a water based glue, these already deteriorated adhesives usually loose their grip when exposed to moister. We can clean out the joint work, and reassemble most pieces back to better than new condition!

Artisans of the Valley - Golden Oak Coffee Table After RestorationArtisans of the Valley - Golden Oak Coffee Table After Restoration

Oak Rope Twist Leg Table

Rope twist leg table before restorationRope twist leg table in progress restoration

This oak table has seen better days, so it's aware of what it's missing, the trick is to help it reach its potential again. A complete disassembly, removal of years of layered old finishes, and a fresh coat of Early American, then a tung oil finish is all it took!

Rope twist leg table restoration complete


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Artisans of the Valley
Hand Crafted Custom Woodworking

Stanley D. Saperstein
Eric M. Saperstein
Our studio and showrooms are open by appointment.
Please call ahead so we don't miss you!
(609) 637-0450

Fax (609) 637-0452

e-mail: woodworkers@artisansofthevalley.com
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