Antique Rocking Chair Frame — Rebuilt and Refinished

Before and After of a rebuild and refinish project on an antique rocking chair

This rocking chair came in all smashed up, looking more like food for the dumpster than something to rebuild.

Initially, the owners of this piece weren’t sure they wanted to invest in the substantial work that was needed to get this chair rocking again. They left me some other chairs to work on and this one to diagnose for repair. It sat in my shop for several days before I could take a good look at it to find out exactly what needed to be done. I kept walking past that piece so bedraggled and worn and kept thinking “somebody should save that rocker.”

While I couldn’t do the upholstery work (my woodshop is not the place for that kind of work), I knew I could rebuild the frame and get the finish looking great. I wanted to give this chair new life, and thankfully, the owners decided to have me do just that.

Rebuilding an Antique Rocker

When this chair came into my shop it wasn’t just damaged, it was in pieces. One rocker was unattached, several joints were severely broken, and its bracing was hanging loose and held together only by the upholstery fabric.

The two main side pieces ran full length from the top of the back rest all the way down to the rockers, and they both needed to be replaced.

I could see these side pieces were quite complex, even for the guys that made them. As I worked, numerous joints with dowels had to be fitted and attached at strange angles. This made them nearly impossible to lay out and get properly drilled. I partly traced the old sides for shape and size, but, with large pieces gone, I had to fill in the lines as best I could.

To shape the curves I used a large bandsaw to cut, nibble, and chew. Then, after releasing the new side pieces from a heavy mahogany board, I sanded them using machine sanders.

Before I attached any new wood, I had to remove all the old upholstery fabric. Boy, was there a lot of it, layer upon layer. The pieces filled a twenty-gallon garbage can to the brim. I burned them all in my giant woodstove on a cool day giving that fabric one useful but final purpose.hen came the test. Would those wood side pieces actually assemble properly? Would they look and work correctly? I dry fitted them part way to check the fit and it went well, which meant it was time to make it permanent.

At that point I knocked apart my dry fit work and mixed up some slow drying epoxy. I wanted a slow drying glue for this to give me plenty of time to work, rework, and solve any problems before the glue set up.

I had a few issues with this assembly, but who would knot?

The wood had crumbled away at some of the original connections so that it was nearly impossible to discern what the original shape of the joint was. At those locations I mixed a good deal of thickener into my epoxy adhesive so that I could build up a joint connector out of the hardened adhesive.

Bingo! It bonded like crazy and the epoxy connector will be hidden by the new upholstery.

This chair will live to rock for many more years now.

Refinishing to Match the Original

The final step was applying the finish. After some final sanding I brushed on four coats of amber shellac using the same finish as the original on this antique rocking chair frame.

The photos above show the rebuilt and refinished rocking chair frame before it left my shop. It was taken straight to the upholsterer. Maybe the owner will email me a photo some day and we can post it here.

Mission Style Telephone Niche Cabinet

Custom designed and built telephone niche cabinet

I was asked recently, for the first time in my life, to build a custom telephone niche.

Now, what, you may ask is a telephone niche?

Well, long prior to these Apple iPhones we all carry and even before cell phones existed (yes, there was such a time) we all called each other on telephones connected to a wire in the wall. That was back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and people had just discovered they had opposable thumbs.

Back in those days (olden times) people needed places to set their telephones where they would be accessible but still be out of the way. Telephone niches were the means to handle that problem.

When this customer (we will call her Ardyth) contacted me she emailed a string of photos of old-style telephone niches. She asked me if I could custom build her a craftsman style niche close to what was in one of the photos.

I gave her a quote which included the drawing on vellum shown above. Vellum is an old-fashioned paper draftsmen and artists use for drawings or blueprints. Nowadays drawings are most often made with computers. But I still hand draw on vellum or on Mylar. Old fashioned drafting tools for an old-fashioned looking product – perfect.

The carpentry was pretty straightforward. The niche was essentially, a box to insert into the wall, with decorative elements to give it character.

This design included a stylized flower on the front. The panel for that flower is ¾” thick red oak. I drew it on the wood by hand. Then I cut out the flower and its two leaves with a small bandsaw. Then I hand sanded the cut edges to mostly smooth. Finally, I stained the piece and gave it a gloss finish.

Ardyth was wonderfully happy with the finished piece. She left me a great review and shared a photo of the niche with one of her beautiful antique phones displayed in it.

Thank you Ardyth, for the chance to build you a nifty niche!

Custom Wood Shop Door with Hand Carved Art Panel

Custom exterior wood shop door, cherry wood

Designing a Custom Wood Shop Door

My new shop door (Man Door as some blueprints would label it) was in the planning for quite a while.

At thirty-eight years of service, the old, smooth-faced steel door, was well past its to-be-used-by date. One weird thing about those cheapie hollow steel doors is that they have an interior frame of pine. The manufacturers have some way of stamping out thin sheet metal and wrapping it around the frames. That’s all good and great but inside that sheet metal cocoon, moisture condenses, soaks the wood frame, and rots it out. Kinda like a chocolate covered cherry with the cherry rotten. It can look well enough on the outside but the inside disappoints. Hence, the hinge screws were no longer holding and the door was ready to fall off the building.

The Old Virginia Woodworking shop needed a new exterior door.

I toyed around with ideas for quite a while, wanting to build something that would improve the look of the shop. I have a large easel, so I set up a tablet and started sketching. Artsy projects attract me. I wanted to make something that would catch the eye but not be crazy strange. After drawing several sample designs, I came up with the flower and vines you see in the photos here (more on the design below).

I want people who visit my shop to see something lovely when they drive up, and I want to see something lovely every day when I go to work.

Making the door

Before working on the art panel, we had to build the main frame of the door and the plain panels for the other sections of the door.

We wanted to build a door that would 1) be cool to build and 2) was visually impressive. That is why the door is almost 4” thick. It took five layers of glued up cherry boards to make this beast.

I had a few pieces of ropey cherry that I had acquired at an auction. Ropey cherry is just cherry wood with a slightly loopy grain. It is clear of knots, very classy, and I had several wide beautiful boards of it.

When we glued up this 4” thick board sandwich, we faced all the outside with beautiful ropey cherry. The inner boards had quite a few knots, but they are invisible under the better boards – call it a knotty cherry sandwich with ropey cherry bread.

Next we milled up the stiles and rails for the door and prepared them for assembly. We dowel all our custom doors together. On this big exterior door we drilled double the usual number of dowel holes — well over 100, 2.5” long dowels. Then we used a slow-drying epoxy to assemble it which gave us plenty of working time for the adhesive before we had to be done clamping it up.

At this point it was a door frame with no panels in it.

Custom cherry wood door frame for an exterior door

At an almost 4” thickness of solid cherry, this frame was pretty darned heavy. From here on we had to have two or three men to move it around or to flip it over on the benches.

I decided to put vertical 4” wide panels in the outside upper and lower panels. I have found that, with almost any design work, narrow lines create a dressier, classier look. That idea carries through from architectural applications even down to what we wear. After all, which shirt is dressier, the one with the narrow stripes or the one with the wide stripes? I am not a fashion consultant, but I think I got this right, the narrow stripes.

Assembling the custom wood door frame for an exterior shop door

Andy, my faithful assistant, glued up the thicknesses of wood needed and fashioned the panels. The lower panels are the same thickness as the door. The upper panels are half the door thickness. The decorative panels only show on the outside of the door. He did a great job as you can see.

At this point the door was almost bullet proof as a few of our customers liked to mention.

Creating the decorative art panel

With the rest of the custom door assembled, the art panel for the inside upper section was all that was left. I designed and built that panel with my own hands.

I started by drafting a full-size drawing on vellum. By this time, I pretty much knew what I was going to do so it really did not take very long. The panel itself is made of bass wood (for ease of carving) and then two vertical stripes of cherry.

After gluing it all up and sanding it with my big drum sanding machine, I cut the panel to its final size and fit it to the door.

Then I started the carving.

Beginning carving on the art panel for a custom hardwood door

This panel is all handcarved. First I carved out the vines along the sides. Then I filled them with three values of green epoxy, swirled a little. After the epoxy cured I sanded it, grading up to about a #220 or finer sandpaper. In one place I sanded all the way through the green epoxy to the underlying basswood. I was able to repair this by simply taking a charcoal pencil and giving it a couple of good clean strokes. You would think that a black line pieced into a green vine would show like crazy. It does not. Our eyes often see what we expect to see, so when people look at this carving, they invariably see green even where it is black charcoal pencil. There is likely some sort of life or spiritual lesson in this but I have yet to figure it out.

Once the vines were complete, it was time to carve the flower from my drawing. There was no way to transfer the large flower from my vellum drawing to the panel. But the advantage of having drawn (and redrawn) that flower, stem, and leaves was that my eye could easily tell my hands how to execute the work on the door panel.

Once it was drawn, I used a sharp V chisel to cut the shape. It really was not very difficult and anybody who has carved a little could have done it.

Nearly complete art panel for a custom wood door

After the carving was done it was time for color. I used artist oils. If you mix primary colors with gray, you get pastels. I used pastels because I wanted the piece to have softness and simplicity. The stem in a dark color provided contrast.

Finally, to finish the panel, I clear coated the entire piece with Waterlox brand marine, tung oil finish. The marine connotation indicates the finish will protect the substrate from water and sun damage.

Art panel installed into the custom cherry wood exterior door

I installed the panel in the door and created the faux window sill and the surrounding wood trims. Oh, and I signed, dated, and folded that vellum original drawing and placed it behind the art panel inside the door. Maybe some guy a hundred years from now…

Fully installed custom hardwood exterior door with art panel.

Then the door (all three or four hundred pounds of it) was ready to hang.

We used four, 6” steel, ball bearing hinges. I routed the hinge locations on the door, placed the hinges, and we hoisted it to its current position. This was no small feat considering its hefty weight. But there it hangs now, welcoming each customer who brings their antique pieces here for restoration and refinishing.

Where the creative work happens

My new-old drafting board

My first drafting training was in carpentry school over fifty years ago. Back then the work was done with a collection of hand tools and a T square working off the side of the drafting table.

Eventually, a business partner of mine showed me how to draw with a ‘modern’ drafting arm–the type with two rotating elbows that just kind of folded out over the table. That worked pretty well for about four decades. Eventually though, that (now old) drafting arm, just plain wore out. I threw it in the trash and geared up to buy another one.

I was soon discouraged to find that in the United States you cannot buy mechanical drafting arms any more. Computer Aided Drawing has (almost) entirely taken over the market. I do not know anything about computer drawing and so was left aghast! What does an old guy have to do just to get a drawing made these days? I started poking around on eBay.

To my delight I discovered a used drafting machine available. It was advertised as the drafting machine only–no table. I bought it for a few hundred dollars and it arrived in good shape. This is a different type of machine than any I ever used. It has a steel track at the top and the vertical drafting arm rolls on that track. Then there is a drafting head with normal rulers that travels up or down that vertical beam. It has a protractor head that turns to any degree you like. It is hard to describe with words but you can see it in the photos.

The craft and skill (and art) of furniture design

This winter I built a drafting board and the stand for that board from a new sheet of plywood and some salvaged white oak lumber from a failed personal project of setting up a three-season greenhouse with raised beds. I learned I am not a farmer, I am a woodworker!

For the drawing board, I bought four locking casters so the unit can be turned here and there as needed. I love this new-to-me drafting machine and custom drafting board. Sure, it is old fashioned but so am I, I guess.

I used a gaggle of old, solid wood panels we had lying around the shop to build a new drafting cart as well to hold the other tools of my trade. The panels were thick and heavy so the cart could maybe someday be used to anchor an aircraft carrier. Well, things in a woodshop must be sturdy.

One thing I have experienced since I launched into furniture building and refinishing over twenty years ago, is this. By creating hand drawn drawings my customers often make comments like “OH–you are an artist!” which is pretty nice praise for a guy who just does old fashioned drafting.

I am not a marvel of modern production. I was made over seventy years ago and, with a little tinkering and repairs, likely can last quite a while longer. The drafting machine will probably outlast me. In any case, I am blessed to still be working with my hands, I am blessed to have two good guys to assist in the shop. And now, I am double-blessed to have this good old machine to make our products better and my life easier.

Red Oak Dining Table Refinish

This old red oak table was quite a mess when it arrived.

It was stored in a damp garage for years leaving it filthy. Boards in the top had separated as the old glue gave out so the top was in numerous pieces when it arrived.

You can see the difference in color when we first sanded half of the top. That new wood color is almost always hiding under the ruined finishes on these antique pieces.

We stained it a nice medium brown (Minwax Honey if memory serves correctly). Out of that seemingly destroyed old wreck came this finished beauty. It is all solid oak, no veneers, so it ought to be good for another century.

Furniture Repair: Fire & Water Damage

This dining room set was nearly ruined in a house fire.

We completely repaired and restored this oak dining table and chairs, considerably damaged in a house fire.

Fire and Water Damaged Furniture

When we received this dining table and chairs from the restoration crew, one end of the table was broken off by the collapse of a water soaked ceiling and insulation. Three of the chairs were so water damaged that the seats fell apart into multiple pieces. Water had literally washed/soaked away about a third of the finishes on this dining set. The baby chair had a leg burned black at the lower end. It was in rough shape.

Refinishing this dining set, however, is exactly the kind of challenge we enjoy! There is always something satisfying about being able to strip and refinish a large dining table. The transformation is pretty fun to see.

Refinishing and Repair Techniques

The chair seats were broken into several pieces and had to be re-glued, sanded smooth, and refinished.

One chair had a rung missing so I had our favorite wood turner custom make one to match the existing rungs. We installed the new custom rung and when the project was complete you would never know one rung had been replaced.

Once we get to spraying the professional finish on table tops, one of the things I like to do to make the finish shine is to spray on two or three coats of sanding sealer, instead of just one coat, before I apply any top clear coats. Sanding sealer in multiple layers gives the table top finish some nice depth.

In the end this restored and refinished dining set turned out great, and should be good for a few decades or at least until the next house fire.

Making a Custom Curved Handrail

Restoration Project Handrail

Custom woodworking can take a lot of unexpected directions sometimes.

This railing is for a restoration project in our area. The new piece of railing needed is less than four feet long and the rail profile is not available. In fact the goose neck on the original railing appears to be hand made which is what we will do also.

Often times we can reproduce old moldings and woodworking with machine made parts that are very close to the original moldings. But once in a while we have to carve or otherwise replicate antique woodwork.

I wanted to play around a bit with this project and tried the draw knife to shape the curves on this oval rail profile. Once carved to a close shape the rail will be sanded smooth and ready for paint.

Antique Woodwork Keeps Things Interesting

One interesting aspect of the work will be the need to fit this oval railing goose neck directly into a ball on the top of one newel post. I told the architect that this joint would likely be the most difficult I ever had to make in my nearly 50 years of carpentry and woodworking. I am planning to hand carve that joint and maybe we can make a time lapsed video to demonstrate our hoped for success.

Why I Train Furniture Refinishing Apprentices

Here at Old Virginia Woodworking I do not hire laborers or carpenters I hire apprentices. There is a world of difference in my opinion. Typically when business owners hire people it is to fill a need for the business. That is true here as well but I have other motivations too.

I believe God has prepared me for such a day as this. Having worked in the building trades for 48 years God has been gracious to let me learn a great deal about building and woodworking. It is only by His gracious provision and kind providence that I have gained my skills. That providence has also helped me to own and provision a good sized shop full of modern tools and equipment.

My Dream Job – Woodworking & Furniture Refinishing

Here I am in my later years working on what many tradesmen would call their dream projects. We refinish a wide variety of furniture pieces. Some are quite nice antiques. We also build some new pieces and make custom moldings for restoration work. I often reflect on the kindness of God in allowing me to work on these desirable projects.

I realize there are numbers of guys around who would love to do the kind of work we do here and would be greatly blessed to have that opportunity. I have decided I ought to (to quote a famous Person) give as it has been given to me and give other guys a chance to learn what I have learned. Hence my commitment to train apprentices in refinishing and woodworking.

Suspender Man™ showing off the door project progress — Suspender Man™ showing off custom door project progress.

Working at My Calling

This is work I believe God has given me to do. It is right here in front of me. I do not have to go to Africa or any third world country (though I greatly respect those who do) in order to fulfill my calling. I can walk just 300 feet down to my shop and do some kind of good for Christ’s kingdom without moving anywhere or driving a single mile.

Given the moral decay and philosophical and spiritual collapse of the university systems and the general lack of trade school opportunities the need has never been greater for apprenticeship training. This idea of apprenticeships was a part of old Christendom that has been bypassed and forgotten for over a century.

Many people have heard the word apprentice but have no real, meaningful content for that concept. I am trying to revive an old idea that I believe is both biblically sound and useful in our time. I am doing something new by imitating something old. True, Christian apprenticeship involves more than just learning trade skills. It involves teaching and learning an entire worldview to go with the trade skills. This is what makes Christian apprenticeship Christian and it is why I am determined to train Christian apprentices. May God give me the grace to succeed to His glory.

BIG Custom Wood Panel (Mahogany)

This huge panel is the largest single panel of wood we have ever made – approximately 6’ x 8’. The wood is quarter sawn African Mahogany and finished at a full 1” thick.

It was an amazing project. Too large to be sanded in our 50” wide sander it was built in two pieces, sanded by machine, and then glued together. All final finishing was by hand.

*Built in two pieces because the size was so large*

*Gluing and clamping the two panels together*

*Custom wood panel at its finished size. Finish was applied as the final step.*

This big, new wood panel was not part of our restoration woodworking or custom moldings panoply. It is a stand alone piece that was designed to cover a huge hole in a customer’s shop wall and as a decorative touch for his business. It took four of us to get it lifted onto his trailer. Normally, one of the considerations in building wood slab like this is that a wood slab with no inset panels can expand and contract considerably with changes in weather and humidity. But in this case there will be no problem because the slab is not being used as a door or movable in any way.

Our woodworking takes many interesting twists and turns since each project is custom. Not everything we build is for historic renovation. In the case of this giant panel the ummm heavy lifting was done mostly by my shop manager and former apprentice, Tim.

Rebuild and Restoration of Hoosier Cabinet

Restoring a Hoosier Cabinet

When we restore and refurbish an old cabinet like this we can get into a wide variety of work. If the cabinet was made after about 1920 or so it could have cheap veneer plywood sides, bottom, and back.

These plywood panels soak up humidity or direct water from rain or other sources. Then the glue lets go between the veneers and the entire piece needs to be replaced. Sometimes you can simply remove the outer layer of the plywood and replace that layer with new veneer. An old iron can help. You use it to heat up the layer of peeling veneer and the heat softens the glue, and bingo, off comes the old veneer.

The new veneer has to be cut with care using a pattern. Then use contact cement to glue down the new veneer. It may sound hard but it is really easy. This Sellers cabinet is really just a variety of Hoosier cabinets but it was a cheap knock off made mostly of poplar wood, a wood which needs to be painted for It rarely looks good stained and varnished.

The best way to get the roll top desk to roll properly is, simply, to work it repeatedly until all the hidden paint crumbs break loose and the track clears enough to let the top move properly.

Don’t be afraid to try it and restore your Hoosier or Sellers Cabinet to its former glory!

Completing the Restoration of a Hoosier Cabinet

The first video we posted up above shows you know how tough this cabinet looked when we began. It was literally falling into parts on the floor. One of our most helpful products for restoring old, broken furniture is epoxy adhesive. Epoxy is tremendously strong, plus, you can add silica thickener to make it stay in the glue joints and not drool all over. Epoxy is a good filler/adhesive and fills up where broken bits of wood have gone missing.

Another trick that gets the job done faster is to use a good commercial paint stripper. Now that might sound like a bit overboard but if you ever try to use the hardware store products, well, you will be there for days with frustration to the moon. We use Benco brand paint stripper, and use rubber gloves, apron, and eye protection. Of course I can’t talk you into anything you just have to decide how many hours you want to spend to strip a cabinet.

Once cleaned up you should sand the cabinet. If you are going to paint your Hoosier Cabinet then prime it first and sand the primer. Then apply two coats of a high quality paint and, voila, you will have discovered a new hobby — or maybe discovered why people bring their furniture to guys like us for refinishing.