Questions tagged [restoration]
Tools, tips and tricks that can be used to aid in restoring pieces
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Yacht varnish to protect antique mahogany veneer? [bathroom vanity]
Last year in our renovation we had our builders convert this 19th century mahogany veneer sideboard into a vanity for our bathroom. Unfortunately they didn’t treat the top of the vanity to protect it, ...
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Can I use tung oil on an old rimu coffee table if I don't know the original finish?
I bought an old rimu coffee table that's been sitting in a garage for the last few years. I really like how it looks so my plan is to clean it thoroughly and then apply pure tung oil for protection. ...
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Cleaning "kitchen dirt" from old spice rack pieces
I'm restoring 60+ years old small spice rack for my mum - I've "unglued" it with a heat gun and now I don't know how to clean it - it's now in several small pieces, ranging 5cm to 30cm (2&...
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Need advice how to fill a screw hole in plywood
I am renovating my childhood wooden rocking horse. I took it all apart, sanding it off, will be priming and painting it later.
Even though it spent over 25 years in a damp cellar, it's in great shape.
...
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New varnish beading/crawling on refinished furniture [poss. silicone contamination]
I am not a woodworker, so forgive me if I am not using the correct nomenclature.
I sent a few china cabinets to a furniture restorer to be revarnished. They are really old pieces, between 95 and 100 ...
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What glue suits restoring this old (French?) chair?
I have this old chair, French I believe, for a restoration project.
It's a bit rickety so I'd like to take it apart, clean up the dowels and glue surfaces and re-glue before upholstering.
The original ...
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Restoring old furniture finish
I have an old table that I'm working on. I initially was just taking off the wobbly feet and putting them back on more firmly. But I was wondering if there's a good way to fix up the scratches. There'...
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How do I clean aluminum tool tables?
Now that I've got the rust on my table saw taken care of, I realized that my 25 year old miter saw base could use a little love.
The majority of the saw is made out of cast(?) aluminum, so it hasn't &...
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Old drill press. How do I remove the handle/quill
My neighbor gave me an old drill press. He said it hadn’t been used in 30 years. I wanted to try to restore it, but I’m having trouble getting it apart. From what I can see, the handle shaft gear ...
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How to fix warped wood in cane chair hiding weaving
I've taken on some simple restoration projects in the past with some success (to me anyway) and I have a new one that I'd like to take on. I was given a cane chair that has been sitting in the ...
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What should I do to restore/un-uglify my wooden shoe cabinet?
I have a wooden shoe cabinet (actually it might have had some other purpose, but that's what it does now), whose side has... well, seen better days:
but its top face is in (somewhat) better shape:
I ...
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How to remove and repair a crooked desk leg?
Apologies if I break any rules with this post, please let me know if I do.
I am an utter novice when it comes to woodworking but I want to get into it as soon as I have the time/money and I decided a ...
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Can I un-warp a warped bed post?
I have a decorative post from a piece of furniture which has become warped -- the top has moved by something like 2 inches, at the top of a ~3foot long tapered and carved post segment. It is finished ...
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Refinished old door looks awful, nothing like I expected! How to fix?
I had my interior doors dipped a couple years ago and have been gradually staining them (using gel stain and gel varnish). They don't look perfect, but I think they're really pretty (see first two ...
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What are these fixings for a printer's (letterpress) tray, and how can I make them? [duplicate]
I'm starting on a woodworking project to build a spice rack that looks like an old typesetter's or printer's tray. I've got most of the design worked out, but I cannot figure out how to make these ...
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How to restore small whiskey barrel?
I was gifted a small barrel, maybe a half gallon (guessing) in volume, pictured below.
I let it sit for too long, I guess, and now there are gaps between all the staves. I read somewhere that you ...
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Cleaning the exterior of a Cuckoo clock
I am trying to restore an old Cuckoo clock. It hasn't been cleaned for a while and it has a layer of grime and dust on top (so dusting it only is not an option). What is the best product to get the ...
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Which edge of the plane's mouth should I file if I want to open it up?
I have replaced the cutting iron on a Stanley #4 hand plane (edit:
because the old one was kaputt, not by vanity). The replacement blade I got from LV is thicker, at 3.8mm vs the 2.0mm of the old one....
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Worried about pre-stain conditioner results
I sanded a door to the bare wood. And before I went to stain it I pre-conditioned it, but the results were not what I expected. The color after the conditioning is darker than I expected. I used ...
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Wooden desk, finish against urine
I'm repairing a used desk made from black carob (it's harder than white oak to give an idea) which only had a wood wax finish. It's been damaged all around its base by dog urine. The old owner of the ...
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Removing black stuff from polishing pads
I have just bought a polishing pad & sheepskin wool pad from Festool and have used them to clean up my table saw top. Now they are both covered in black stuff.
Is there a best way to remove it ...
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Is it possible to repair scratches to this sort of wear?
I recently started using this desk, last used by an old relative I'm very fond of.
There's a wide array of scratches and marks on it:
I like that it's worn, but I'd like to know if it's possible ...
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What type of hinge is this?
I have a hinge and I'm having a bear of a time replacing it. It's from an old Bakers box and it's the cabinet/tray hinge and has a peculiar shape. It hangs down a bit so the door is actually lower ...
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Top coat poly makes other sides rough
We're restoring some old furniture - sofas with a lot of carving, whole wood book shelves, et al. We've stripped the old varnish and are redoing the job with poly. We did 2 coats of PU sealer and 2 ...
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How do I duplicate large fretwork, brackets and corbels? Plywood and CNC?
I need to replicate 12 Victorian 1.75 inch thick 2 foot x 4 foot ornate triangular porch brackets, plus some corbels and other details. My idea was to glue 2 or 3 layers of marine grade plywood ...
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How can a bit brace handle be replaced?
I have an old bit brace that I would like to restore as much as possible. But the handle is "badly injured". As shown in the picture, it has diminished over time through hard use and it has a long ...
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How do I use dividers to layout decorative shapes?
I am attempting to recreate ornamental brackets that were installed on my porch. The house in built in New England at around 1914. The brackets appear to have reoccurring patterns. I recognize some ...
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Removing Paint from Rough/Coarse Surfaced Beams
We are about to move into a new house, that has some very nice coarse/rough beams on the interior (A lot of them). They have been painted though, and I'm looking for a method to remove the paint, and ...
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Is it a good idea to apply lacquer over shellac?
I have an antique coffee table that I am planning to restore. It is elaborately carved, and appears to be made out of solid mahogany. The existing finish is in pretty good shape, except for the top of ...
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How can I match a finish on furniture when re-finishing?
I have two pieces of maple furniture, a desk with a large water stain, and a kitchen table with minor scratches an exposed wood. My problem is my wife loves the finishes on these pieces of furniture, ...
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How to find out what kind of finish is on a piece of furniture
I have several old pieces of furniture that have issues with the existing finish. I would like to do a gentle restoration of these pieces while maintaining the original look. I am not sure if the ...
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Fixing a door's edge properly
I have a corner hutch with a typical top half which has the top half glass and the bottom have a set of solid doors. Here's a pic:
I did some restoration on this a few years ago and saved it from ...
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Efficient paint removal from rough sawn wood
I have some rough sawn timbers in my house that were painted over by the previous owner of the house1. I believe the timbers are a softer wood like fir as they are more decorative than structural.
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Any tips on reconditioning/using an old benchtop jointer?
I've got an old belt-driven bench-size (jobsite?) jointer -- 6" bed, infeed/outfeed tables each about 11" long -- that I've been storing for a friend. Never got around to getting it mounted with the ...
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Can pressure-treated posts be restored, or better preserved?
The posts and rails shown are 20-year-old pressure-treated wood. Is there any maintenance that could have prevented the posts from decaying through the exposed end grain?
Is there any restoration ...
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