Antique Table in an Amateur's Hands: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly.

Cheers for the ideas Wits and Greg. I’ll get onto those and report back in due course.👍

I’m also interested in people’s thoughts on the following.

I think one idea with antique refurbishing is to stay true to the original. For example, if it was possible just to clean/remove grime from this table - that would have been enough. Alas, I am stripping back more because of the ugly, hard to remove and ‘unnatural’ stains.

However I have another idea too. As the table has no markings or obvious link to a date not a person who built, it I am thinking of a few other refinements too.

For example, I could apply felt to the underside of the top so that at any given time I can use the top as a board without the table. Further, I thought I’d felt the inside of the drawer too.

I feel those changes would add a level of refinement and indeed, functionality.

That said, philosophically - is there a right and wrong way to approach such project with antiques? Am I in some way devaluing or disrespecting the past in making such changes?

The problems with getting the finish stripped are puzzling and I'm not sure what an unnatural stain is.  There just weren't that many different finishes 100 years ago.  There are different ways of applying colour to the wood - as a layer on the surface (a varnish or shellac applied over the top), a pigment stain that is wiped on over the top and sits as particles in the grain, or a penetrating stain usually carried in a solvent, that soaks into the wood. Chemical stripping will remove varnish, it may remove some of the surface pigment and its unlikely to have much effect on a spirit stain.  That means that chemical stripping is not necessarily going to get the stain out of the wood and you will have to mechanically remove the stained timber (by sanding or scraping) or use the right solvent.  The legs looked very dark to start with and getting them to a point where they can be stained all the same (lighter and consistent) colour will be a bit of an exercise.  

Leaving the table top loose is an option, but I'd suggest some short dowels in the top frame into the loose table top to stop it from sliding around.  I doubt that felt on the inside of the drawer will help much, you might have to more or less dismantle the drawer to get a very neat result and I'd recommend not doing that.  

Personally I'd get the legs resolved before thinking too much about expanding the scope of the project. 

It's not like you're dunking it in pink and lime green paint and calling it art!  In all reality what you're doing is giving this old piece new life - and a good one at that.  I'm sure what you decide to do will be respectful and well-considered, so as they say (somewhere ;-), no worries, Mate!

I wonder if the finish on the legs is black japan, a bituminous finish that I doubt will respond to chemical stripping (I've never tried). 

Is it possible to "respect" an otherwise anonymous old object, I wonder?  Maintaining a degree of aesthetic integrity (colour, finish, consistent signs of wear where age is one of the attractive things about the object) is important for the result, and that is driven in part by where you start and how much change you want to impose, but these are concerns about the aesthetic result, not concerns for the object as it starts out.  It is of course different for a piece whose history is the most important thing: which is many museum pieces, but for functional pieces of furniture the concern should be for the present, and that necessarily involves the taste of the person doing the work.  Dipping stuff in pink and lime green paint may look like vandalism, but its just another aesthetic choice, one that is likely to make a path back to a more historically probable appearance more difficult, but its logically a bit difficult to distinguish it from funny spirit stain colours and polyurethane finishes.  

If i were to virtually sit in your living room, I’d say “it’s really up to you what you wish to do with your table.” I’d encourage you to proceed with your plans as they will certainly add value to your new old table. IMHO, the value of the table is in what you put into it. As for other historical pieces, i think @greghunt is spot on. “Go for it friend!” 

Thanks for the feedback - I’ll respond more in due course but I wasn’t clear in my earlier thread - my ‘unnatural’ statement was more about the historical ‘drip’ marks which looked like someone had accidentally dripped some kind of stripper or solvent and thus, cut through the stain … hence me wanting to remove the unnatural drip marks. And rest assured, while some may make bold artistic statements of pink and lime … I’ll be a tad more conservative than that.😊

Personally, I'd opt for a full function table/board and add the felt.....Either way it's looking like a winning combination.....Applauds for your effort "and" passion!

Forgot to add.....Me? I'm fine putting one of my boards on either the kitchen,or dining room table......Instant Chess Table.-

oh go on, live a little... 

https://www.chesshouse.com/products/3-1-2-silicone-club-chess-pieces-neon-green-and-pink 

Well, a mechanical intervention it is. I am carefully hand-sanding the legs now and here are the results on the work today … really just this morning as the afternoon has been spent on a long lazy Sunday lunch with friends. 

It’s coming up well albeit removing the paint/tar is not easy. (@greghunt - I reckon you might be right … it has a tarry/bitumen feel to it)

Also - the removal has shown me some cracks and a previously un-seen broken leg that someone has fixed in the past!! 

It a little frustrating - it seems three of the  five ‘Barley Twists’ - 4 legs and 1 cross brace - were finished in different things - as 2 responded to chemical cleaning and it was relative easy to strip inside the twist … but three will take more work. Indeed, if they were all the same - I maybe have left the dark internal groove and stained the outside. It might have looked quite good but I don’t think so when two legs are now different.

Anyway - much more to do but the work continues. I have never worked with wood  - I am finding it’s a deeply satisfying pastime! 

(My apologies for the side-loaded photos - I aren’t close to my laptop and am loading them from my phone - alas they are coming in sideways!!)

I don’t mean to spam the thread with constant updates - but some folk asked for updates - so I hope they are both instructive and interesting. 👍

 

Were the drip marks on the legs that stripped easily, or were they on the ones that might have been japanned?  

Great point Greg… the drip marks are on the ‘tarred’ legs …so something removed it!

Nice job @Powderdigit! It looks really good so far. Keep up the good work.

I said this might get embarrassing and … well… it has! I’ll post pictures when I get a chance but I am disappointed in myself …

I applied a stain to the legs without testing … it’s purposely dark almost black - my idea was to avoid a poor match with the mahogany top and try and contrast with the ebony squares on the top.

I’m not sure the idea was wrong but the application is a
sh!tshow and I am now taking a break to determine how best to polish this turd.

@pawnerai noted that I will make mistakes and that’s ok - I am not devastated but I am disappointed in myself - I essentially rushed between a busy work schedule - just stupid! Alas, it not the end of the world - indeed, it’s a first world issue to be sure.

Anyway pictures to cement my embarrassment to come!

Stick with it. We're all rooting for you. 📣♟

Sorry to hear that you are disappointed, but from what I've seen so far,it still would make for a very nice board....If you go that route.

Embarrassed... No need to be. It is a work in progress. You applied something that wasn't quite right. It can be removed and then you can start over. Think about the stories you can tell when the table is all done. Just keep going. It will be fine.

Hey friend, we’re all learning with each project. I do understand being disappointed in one’s experiences. I applied finish to one of my projects only to remove the finish five times. Five flipping times before i reverted to an oil finish to my liking. Good thing it wasn’t a commissioned piece for sure! Looking forward to the pictures as are others. On your side we are Powder man! 

My money is on a happy ending to this chess saga.

Here’s the full catastrophe.

Conceptually, it like the idea of the contrast and picking up the black squares in the top.

Further, I have resolved my thinking in that I am not restoring a museum piece - this is a un-marked/un-signed table - the provenance of which is not known. So, I do not mind giving it a new lease of life in a slightly different direction. 

I can still imagine the legs being a contrast and I suppose I use a similar finish to the top … when I resolve the colour of the stain. 

If it helps - the stain I have used is a pigment stain using natural oils - the brand is ‘Evolution’ made in Germany.

 

And on a more pleasing note…. At least the top is now finished and makes a beautiful small study board - regardless of the base. For that I am thankful and quite delighted.