Rush Chair

[SteveA]

39 years ago I made this horse for my Daughter's first Birthday.  It's been up in the attic for about 35 years.  This weekend we took it down because my Wife is watching the neighbors Son.  My Grandson is still too small for this Horse.  Anyway if anyone remembers Constantines in the Bronx - I was there three times a week buying materials.  I loved the place and was depressed when they closed because internet sales weren't available yet. The horse plans came from Constantines.  I used construction lumber - made a few betterment's, than the plan offered.  Dark walnut wiping stain - satin lacquer.  Man time is passing like crazy and I wish Contantines was still around - I think they still have an outlet in Florida - maybe it's the Brother or Cousin - I've never purchased anything from them in Florida.  In the Bronx warehouse they had a rosewood room - a veneer room - upholstery supplies - anything you could think of.  What a place - gone but not forgotten - the owner Glen was a great guy. 

https://beta-static.photobucket.com/images/ad181/SteveA_2010/0/1ea344b8-3596-44e9-805d-1a54b03b475a-original.jpg?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds

[kodydog]

Nice job Steve, did you also do the carvings?

[SteveA]

Yes it's all low relief carving.  The head, tail and hoofs.  The saddle was a separate assembly .  When it was new it looked like a million dollars.  The kids really wore it out.  I will have to refinish it.  The rockers I laminated with 1/4 oak to strengthen.  The only thing I would do different is not attached the legs with through dowels - they'd be hidden. 
SA

https://beta-static.photobucket.com/images/ad181/SteveA_2010/0/0d2a64fa-ebd6-4093-82a9-a0c9cba676f9-original.jpg?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds

[SteveA]

Caught a nice little job for today and maybe a new account.  Recommendation from the moving company.  Veterans Hospital in the Bronx - a design firm from Dallas is doing over all the rooms.  They called and asked if I could fill in cracks in H/Bs that the patients use in the rooms when they stay over night.  The lady in charge was super.  I showed her my Trump  card  and she said  " how did you know? "   
Texas right !   Anyway I did 4 repairs - done by 11:30am and they want to know if they can call me again.  Heck yea -   

https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/ad181/SteveA_2010/0/03126555-43a7-4e2e-b5dd-1378a86d4185-original.jpg?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds

[gene]

How do you fill in the cracks and match the stain? Are these cracks all the way through? Do you do anything to keep the cracks from happening again?

---------------------------------------------
"cracks in H/Bs that the patients use in the rooms when they stay over night"

Do all Veterans Hospitals have free porn channels or is that just the Veteran Hospitals in the Bronx?

----------------------------------------------------
"I showed her my Trump  card"

And if Hillary had won the election you would have shown your Hillary card. Even though all those government bids are sealed by law, it is amazing how the winners all voted for whoever the president is at the time of the bidding.

-------------------------------------------------
I hope it turns out to be a good source of repeat business.

gene

[SteveA]

I missed a good opportunity to take a photo for the web site this year.  Last year I was working in sports center and that was the photo for my favorite job put on the web site.  After I left the Fisher house I realized I should have taken a photo with one of those big bronze statues of a General past.  Anyway I will be back there for my photo shoot the next time furniture needs repair. 
I filled the cracks with Duhrams water putty.  I mixed it heavy and stiff to fill the holes in one pass.  I had with me the heat gun and a fan.  It took one hour for the filler to dry with me using the heat gun and fan to dry.  The putty dried white which was what I wanted for the white wash finish blend.  Before it fully cured I washed off the over fill with a damp rag so there was no sanding to do and chance making the repaired area bigger than it needed to be.  When the fill was dry I touched up with white lacquers and sprayed white and antique white lacquer over the crack to blend everything.  It looked good but I forgot to take a photo for the after repair - I was too busy hugging the gal from Texas and thanking her for the work.  She was my kind of people -
Will it crack again ?  - who knows what wood wants to do.  I'm guessing it shrunk as much as it's going to shrink and it should look good for a long time.  The rooms are beautiful.  The service members are invited to stay there while they are being treated even with their Families in tow.  The rooms are as nice as the best hotels.  There are all sorts of dining rooms,  TV lounges, meeting areas - etc. - the whole 9 yards and they deserve it for sure.
I have voted Democrat in the past - for instance Como is doing a good job but Hilary I didn't trust and for years everyone said these politicians are the worst - we need a business man in the White House.  Now we got one - I voted for him and no one can stand him here in NY.  I hope Trump wins another term and then Pence is President for 8 years after that .
SA   

[SteveA]

The movers called me to the warehouse this morning - broken leg and going out today  - the guys tried to glue it but it didn't hold.  The break was very uneven so I had to glue the break together then cut across the leg so I would have a good view and flat surface to drill the dowel.  Epoxy - 3/8ths dowel - good and strong. The break is below where I cut across the bead and the dowel goes 2 inches deeper then the original break


https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/ad181/SteveA_2010/0/3d0d3933-a702-4751-8859-6532ac89ae78-original.jpg?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds

https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/ad181/SteveA_2010/0/ad6dced8-885b-45eb-84d7-2b1de209136f-original.jpg?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds

https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/ad181/SteveA_2010/0/ef2100ad-154d-4504-ab2a-9f75cdb9ce1d-original.jpg?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds

[kodydog]

Nice job Steve. Fixing a botched glue job sucks. I have an antique Queen Ann chair on the bench with a curved front that has a big split going across it. It looks like the last person just squirted some glue in there but didn't use a clamp. Now it looks like a split with a bunch of glue in it. The customer didn't say anything about fixing it. I'm going to leave it alone because my skills would end up making it look worse.

[gene]

The hole looks bigger than the dowel. Is this correct and do you do this to be able to match the two parts together if your holes are not plumb with each other? And then you fill the holes with epoxy? Thanks for your comments on how you fixed the headboard.

[SteveA]

Gene if you were my shop teacher I'd never get the gold star :)  -  the hole wasn't bigger but the entry point was skewed.  Since I was working in the warehouse without the luxury of my shop conditions - I would call it rough repairs.  The holes weren't misaligned because I used dowel centers - and drilled with a brad point bit - the holes were perfectly aligned.  However after drilling in one inch I backed out the bit and inserted the dowel to see how straight I was going.  Not to straight...... so I tipped over the bit to get back on target. It widened the entry hole -  It happened on both the sawed off leg and the part attached to the case.  However only the neck or entry was sloppy because as I got on track the majority of the hole was the correct diameter.  The dowel was 5 inches long and provided a good firm connection even without glue.  Epoxy does forgive all sins and it certainty filled in the sloppy entry holes on both sides. I also needed the repair to dry fast so yellow glue was out.   As to fit - when I can't perfectly center the dowel for whatever reason I will drill the hole one size bigger and rely on the epoxy to make up the difference - there is nothing wrong with that except it's only worthy of the bronze star -
SA

[SteveA]

My neighbor a contractor has to replace 4 floor boards that were water damaged.  It is prefinished veneer flooring.  He took solid red oak and dimensioned the lumber and asked me to put color and finish.  When I put the stain over the red oak it was way too dark.  I wound up bleaching the 4 boards and then stained to match the existing board color with the crack through it.  Oak has many shades in it's natural state because only one matched perfect the others have less pink showing - all had the exact same treatment - but good enough where they will blend into an older floor.   The bleached photo is when they are layed over the wood dowels. There's one board pictured that shows the red oak without bleach

https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/ad181/SteveA_2010/0/c7952c43-0214-4f5e-8510-b0847b515507-original.jpg?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds

https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/ad181/SteveA_2010/0/196a0632-1ef0-4829-902b-4de46fb3ee5f-original.jpg?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds

[kodydog]

Steve, do you ever come up with an idea and say, boy I hope this works? Or have you been at it long enough to know it will. Your fixes sometimes amaze me.

[SteveA]

Will it work ? I ask myself that all the time.  What I'm good at now at this age is being able to know why things didn't go as planned.  Whether I will completely redo any job  or just adjust it is another story.  After seeing that only one board really matched well (the sample with the crack in it) I went back to look at the two oak boards they left me far right in photo.  The two on the right are different - one is more pink and that is why only one matched perfect.   His customer will be happy to have anything that is even close and these stained boards are close enough.  To redo I would have to wash off the finish and color and slightly sand through the bleached surface to expose more natural wood before re-staining. Or I would tell the contractor to make me new pieces out of the boards that have the pink cast only.  He won't do that because the floor overall is older and worn so no one is looking that close at these few replacement boards.  The other issue is that the board the contractor gave me was slightly off the true color because of the water damage.  I hadn't seen the floor myself but I'm sure the board he brought me to match had more color before it was water damaged.  I'll ask him to snap a few photos after it's repaired so I can post the photos here of the completed job.

https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/ad181/SteveA_2010/0/da37b370-982e-44bb-8da6-f9ae13ad2fc1-original.jpg?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds

https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/ad181/SteveA_2010/0/8721e4f7-a188-4f94-aaf5-37dc5f49d18e-original.jpg?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds

[SteveA]

The contractor installed the planks - he said the clients were very happy.  To me they didn't match close enough.  I offered to go there and  blend the color a bit and the contractor said Steve your too particular.  They are good enough and the customer was happy.  I think with a light mist coat of cherry color lacquer from a rattle can it would have blended the color together.   On to the next job - I can't shake the disappointment of not making the color perfect - I need a beer !

https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/ad181/SteveA_2010/0/de9c2355-798d-4edc-8841-e48679017328-original.jpg?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds

https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/ad181/SteveA_2010/0/78586c7a-f3a9-49bb-b146-c0d1924fac89-original.jpg?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds

[SteveA]

Just finished up this scale - old Troemner pharmaceutical scale.  It is mine - bought at a tag sale for $ 10.00 because the black glass was broken. I glued it back together for a template.  The local glazier made the glass and drilled the holes - cost me $ 50.00.  - I painted the underside black and taped off the viewing area for the see through and fitted some new screws and filed down some parts that were too tight.  I'm not going to refinish the wood - it looks decent - more junk I have to find a place for lol

https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/ad181/SteveA_2010/0/31d0c074-319f-4314-90ec-735bd9370a18-original.jpg?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds

https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/ad181/SteveA_2010/0/e9174a94-af9f-4564-8e29-85f416a4efee-original.jpg?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds

https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/ad181/SteveA_2010/0/b29644c7-eb6d-4454-8c06-03bd9a132ac1-original.jpg?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds