This is an old dresser my mom given at Goodwill. It was by the door about to be thrown out and she wanted to see how good I could make it look so she took it.
Now this may be an antique but it was way too far gone to try and save the integrity of it. So I decided to tighten the hell out of it.
All the joints were so loose I just pulled it apart with minimal effort. I had to make a few new drawer guides on the inside. It was off square by almost 2". Now it is within 1/16 of an inch square. The top was so warped that if you put the back flat on a table the front was almost 3.5 inches off the table.
Sanded everything down to a 220 all the way around to remove imperfections. Had to reglue all the dovetails for the drawers. The sides were so far gone I had to replace them with 3/16 birch ply. I don't know what kind of wood the dresser was but it was close enough in color to match.
The stain is a first coat of Provincial Minwax. Wasn't happy with the tone so I darkened it with a heavy second coat or Dark Walnut Minwax. The finish is a base coat of Teak Oil with 4 coats of 50/50 Helmsmann poly and Teak oil mix, sanding with 600 grit between coats. I have been told this isn't a good finishing technique and I will stay away from it from now on but it still came out looking great. Will sit in a spare bedroom of my mom's and never be used anyways.