Furniture

Finishing the Radio Cabinet

Submitted by Leif on Sun, 12/27/2009 - 8:50am

 Well, at long last - the final chapter of the Radio Cabinet saga.   I've put this project off for a few months, and there wasn't really all that much to do to finish it, and finally, it is.Click to enlarge

The avid reader will have noticed I started this project just under a year ago.  It's been one of those  projects that I would squeeze in time on where I could, then set aside while other jobs were tackled.

Most of the repairs have been finished in earlier episodes, save for one - the fragile appliqué at the bottom front was broken in a couple of spots and missing a small piece at one end.   I have to get these pieces whole again before I can proceed on to finishing the cabinet.   It's deceptively simple task to do - there is a lot of patience involved.

More Work on the Radio Cabinet

Submitted by Leif on Sat, 07/11/2009 - 3:47pm
 

Click to enlarge

 
 
Figure 1. The insert for the cabinet in place, made entirely from recovered wood.
  

It's been a while since I updated on the radio cabinet project - to tell the truth, I've only been working on it sporadically, an hour or two here and there, but progress has been slow.

The interior of the original cabinet housed the electronic parts of the radio, and was never meant to be finished.  To that end, I decided to make an "insert" for it, one that could hold the LP's in the bottom, with a small shelf above for CD's.  Something I could simply slide into the existing cabinet and tack it with a couple of brads to hold it in place (figure 1).  it's construction is quite unremarkable, so I don't have any photos of it during construction.

This would also give me the opportunity to put a back on the cabinet, at least for the interior - the view from the back of the cabinet will never be seen, and I didn't want to disassemble it - so the existing hole in the back (originally there for ventilation of the tubes and what-not for the radio) will remain, and the records inside will be protected from dust.  The back is actually a piece of 1/4" hickory plywood I had left over from making kitchen cabinets a few years back.

Hammer Veneering a New Top

Submitted by Leif on Sun, 02/01/2009 - 4:40pm
 

Click to enlarge

 
 
Figure 1. The finished top, ready for the next stage of the restoration.
  

 The existing mahogany veneered top of my latest project, a refinishing of a 1928 Brunswick radio cabinet for use as an LP player stand, was in horrendous shape.  The years of misuse were particularly hard on it...  It appears that for many years it has served as a plant stand, and had many patches of veneer missing, dented, or discolored right through the veneer.  My original intent was to patch and refinish it, but the damage was simply too great.

I decided to re-veneer the entire top (figure 1).  I didn't want to disassemble the top from the cabinet, so a vacuum press was out of the question (if I even had one).  I decided to go old-school on it and hammer veneer a new top on using hide glue.  All the veneering I've done before has been for smaller pieces - I've not done it on this large of a scale before. So, this is going to be a bit of an adventure and a learning experience as there's a few new things I'll be trying.  

A More Complex Veneer Repair

Submitted by Leif on Sun, 01/18/2009 - 8:41pm

The side of the radio cabinet I'm restoring has a good deal of damage to its side.  In this article I'll take you through the steps I took to repair that damage:

Veneer Repair 

The damage is enough to seriously detract from the beauty of this 80 year old mahogany cabinet.  Some might argue that a true repair might involve replacing the entire side - or at least the veneer for it.  I don't want to get that involved or invest that much time into it, nor do I think there is any real reason to...  While this is a fairly complex repair, it certainly is not a difficult one... It's more likely to test your patience than it is your skill. 

Repairing Broken Feet

Submitted by Leif on Sat, 01/17/2009 - 8:38pm

One of the issues I have with the radio cabinet I'm re-finishing was that three of the feet had pieces missing - here's a typical foot showing a missing piece:

The foot is made from the base of a single stile that rises the height of the cabinet.  The original maker added pieces around the perimeter at the foot to allow them to make the foot larger - it's these pieces that have come loose, knocked off for some reason in the past.

I don't have the original missing pieces - I'll have to make them.  I'm sure the original would have been mounted in a lathe and the foot turned, but as I'm not going to disassemble the cabinet turning is not an option for me.  Looks like I'll have to do it the old fashioned way - glue a block onto the foot and form it with chisels and gouges.

A Simple Veneer Repair

Submitted by Leif on Sat, 01/10/2009 - 1:56pm

 Sandy and I received this old radio cabinet during an acquaintance's move for the cost of hauling it down 3 flights of stairs and hauling it away - It dates from around 1929 or so and at first glance looks in pretty good shape.  In actuality, it looks better than it is - the doors are in great shape, but the case is really poor.  Also, all of the original radio parts have been cannibalized, so all that is left is basically the cabinet itself:

Radio Cabinet

 For Christmas, one of the gifts I gave her was one of those record players that can record LP's to CD, so it seemed right that this old radio cabinet be transformed into the stand for it.  It's the right size, and the interior can be converted to hold LP's and CD's.  But it needs restoration first.  One of the most obvious problems is where the veneer has come off, as you can see in the above photo at the lower left corner.  It's such an obvious flaw, that I just have to repair it.

Linen-Fold Panels

Submitted by Leif on Sat, 09/08/2007 - 8:21pm

If you are looking for the piece on wedged through tenons, please click HERE.

Over the last couple years, I've been trying to teach myself carving by coming up with projects that either require or might benefit from a bit of carving.  I try to pick projects where any carving that might be done is fairly simple, or easily replaced if I find my "skills" are particularly lacking.  A couple examples of this are on this site - I've done some celtic knots for some of the trim of our kitchen cabinets, and some basic chip carving on a few saw handles.  

I also have a love for old wooden molding planes, and wanted to showcase a simple project that would highlight the use of the most basic type of these, the hollows and rounds - simple concave or convex shaped molding planes that are of the most common variety, and easily obtainable or buildable (look for a project on that later this spring!) by the average woodworker.

Wedged Through Tenons

Submitted by Leif on Sat, 09/08/2007 - 8:17pm

If you are looking for the piece on linen fold panels, please click HERE.

During a recent remodel of our house, I enlarged the living room and added a small closet next to the front door. A full size door was out of the question, as it would  require 3' of clear space for it to open,  and I wanted a door that would use as little floor space in front of it as possible.  A pair of sliding doors would not open wide enough, and a single bi-hold door still required too much space for the furniture I have in mind that will go in front of the closet.  The answer was a 4 panel bi-fold door - it would only  protrude into the space in front of it by a foot or less.

Carved Cabinet Details

Submitted by Leif on Sun, 05/09/2004 - 5:01pm

In my work as an architect most of my work is remodeling office buildings of one sort or another, and  it seems that every project has to be detailed to the nth degree well before the project leaves the door with too much worry about budget.  The joy of doing my own work is that I can leave parts of the project unfinished until I can devote my full attention to them, and add any detail I either think I like aesthetically, or I just want to try and do at that time.  I am at that point now with out kitchen that I've designed and (mostly - still some left to do) built in our house.

The Design.

Here is what was needed - something to cover these studs in the middle of the island:

Syndicate content