repairing a small chest

[M Toupin]

A young lady that works for me brought in this small chest about 16" wide X 15" tall X 9" deep and asked me to fix it if I can. She just got a new puppy that decided that it would make a good chew toy which you can see from the damage to the corner. Her grandmother had given it to her years ago and she's hart broken. I have no idea of the age or value, but she feels its fairly old and her grandmother supposedly bought it in England years ago. The joints are all hand cut dovetails and it's actually fairly crude joinery IMO, tough it appears to be entirely hand made. I'm not sure, but it appears the finish is shellac and the glue may very well be hide glue by the looks. There's also a small scrap of paper taped to the bottom that says "English mahogany". The quarter round in the top actually individual pieces which have been mitered and attached to the sides of the top and the case.

Obviously I can replace the damaged parts, my concern is that I not ruin any value it might have. Can anyone give me a rough idea if this thing has any value beyond the sentimental value and what might be the best way to repair it while retaining any value it might have? Also, does anyone know were I can get a small quantity of English mahogany to effect the repair?

Mike
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[Alan Turner]

I can't comment on value, but it is a rather charming, shop made chest.

Is the weight of the mahogany similar to modern mahogany, or is it quite heavy, as in Santo Domingo (Cuban)? If the former, then any new mahogany could be used to effect the repair. I can't imagine mahogany of any flavor growing in England.

Is the molding profile on the edge of the top an appied molding? I think this is what you are saying. If so, the side pieces should come off rather easily, although the front piece, probably glued long grain, and perhaps nailed as well, will be a tougher task.

How is the top attached to the carcase? Can it safely be removed? If so, then the repair would be easier.

I am sure your young employee is quite saddened by the damage. Old family pieces, with or without actual vaue, are to be treasured.

Let us know what you decide.

[Roy Wall]

Mike,

It looks like you could flip the top and use the underside....then of course replace the edge pieces.....

I'd talk to here about a complete refinish - sand, scrape, etc... it all off and give the piece a new look for 21st century.

To me, if the piece had any antique value before the "puppy".....it would be gone now. The real value to her is from her grandmother - and I understand that completely- so I'd freshen it up to look "new" like when her grandmother got it.

[Steve Schoene]

I'm going to argue against a complete refinishing, especially one that involves sanding and scraping. That pretty much throws the sentimental value out the window, I'd think.

I would first repair the molding around the top, if those are applied than molded on, probably with new moldings. The damage to the corner of the top might be left, with a little smoothing, as part of the history of the piece. If they are not applied moldings I might just rip them off, and make replacements that would be applied, since scarfing in new moldings may be enough effort not to be worth doing.

You can probably use Honduran mahogany quite successfully to make the moldings. (This is probably what was used to begin with--the damaged areas seem pretty light for it to have been Dominican or Cuban mahogany.) You will probably have to do some dying, and also pore filling to achieve a good match.

Then, when the basic match is achieved with a shellac top coat, I would clean the old finish and then use alcohol to "reamalgamate" it. This will considerably brighten the old finish, and can also help blend it into the new. At the same time it would not remove all of the the patina and natural coloration from the wood. At the end, a steel wool rub to remove the glare from the new shellac should make it attractive, not entirely "new", but thoroughly rejuventated. The context of its surroundings should determine how thorough the rejuvenation should be.

The nonsense promulgated by the "Antique Roadshow" about never touching old finishes is just that. It is economically relevant for major pieces from the eighteenth century, and before, and even then rather questionable aesthetically since it totally ignores the original craftsmans intentions when he chose the wood and selected a finish. Even one of the major promulgators of the concept John Kirk has mostly repudiated that concept as it relates to furniture originally with clear finishes--his original intent was to question the practise of stripping originally painted furniture to refinish with clear finish, a process that alters the intent dramatically.

Economically it might be true that the untouched chest would be worth more economically than a refinished one, but it is almost certainly true that a puppy chewed chest is almost certainly worth less untouched than restored. A sensitively restorated piece with history and patina preserved, will be worth much more than one which has been totally refinished to bright shiny new.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Before you concern yourself too much about harming the value it might be well to get an opinion either for the client or an appraiser.
If from the client try to get it on paper. You don't want her takeing it to a dealer in a year and blaming you for ruining it's historical value.

However, that said. The pictures and facts you have should pretty much cover you for the most part. Clearly she ruined it with her dog. ERGO: she not merely assumed the risk, she was causation.

[Ben Grunow]

I agree, replace the molded edge (cut it off if it's molded on or if it's applied molding) and replace with new stock finished to match. Maybe round the edge of the top over to get rid of the damage and older damage in middle on front edge. This might require a slightly different profile for the molded edges but only slightly and if all are new no one will know. You could re-route the drawer faces with a different profile (if the finish is going to be removed) to clean them up too.

I'm no pro but that does not look too valuable to me. Have it appraised before starting. I'm sure the repairs will make it more valuable than leaving it alone, the finish is what the appraiser will key you in to. Good luck.

[M Toupin]

Thanks for the replies. Everyone is correct, the sentimental value is far and above any real value the piece might have. The young lady has no problems with a complete rebuild and refinish, but I'd like to keep some of the "old charm".

The molding is indeed applied and looks like it will come off easily. The molding really isn't the problem, that will be easy to reproduce. The top damage is the main sticking point. Roy's idea of flipping the top sounds like it might be a viable option and I'll have to explore that if I can get it off without damaging it. The puppy got a chunk of the top piece along with the molding too which is a bit of a problem. The profile idea is interesting, but the damage to the top is about 7/8" into the top so a profile isn't really an option. I think trying to remove the damage by changing the profile would really throw off the balance and look a bit odd. Right now I'm leaning towards replacing the molding and flipping the top.
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The only other issue is the finish. I think it's going to be difficult to get a reasonable match between the new wood and the old patina. I'm considering a alcohol cleanup and trying to spread some of the old dissolved finish into the new wood. I'm not sure how that will work, but I think it might blend it enough to get them reasonable close. Hopefully between cleaning up the old and grunging up the new it will blend somewhat… any opinions?

Mike

[Tyler Howell]

Bad Doggy Bad!
Sorry, Best I can offer.

[Chris Barton]

While my suggestions regarding finish are almost identical to Steve's posting, I would offer an alternative solution to the repair of the top. I agree with others that have suggested replacing the applied mouldings. But, I would suggest repairing the corner of the top by using a router to insert a "Dutchman" of sorts. I would cut a veneer about 1/2" thick as replacement stock and then make a template to rout away the damaged area resulting in an triangle shaped area about 2" wide on the end grain and narrowing to 0 along the long grain axis, creating essentially a scarf joint. Glue the veneer in matching the grain direction and then plane the ends to fit and sand lightly. A very precise fit in the thickness of the veneer will be necessary to prevent having to sand too much. Then I would use a waterbased stain to color match the splice. You could then refresh the original finish by giving it an alcohol rub. Follow the alchol rub with a burnishing with 0000 steel wool and then use Zinzer's French polish to apply a couple of coats of new finish. Finally, using a glaze would refresh the age of the piece and help even out the repair.

Repairs such as this were probably the most commonly used method of the period and to the present. This would allow you to not flip or otherwise cut the top or change it from it's original demensions. Remember, the top may well not be square.

Just my views...