Building nice wood

21 years later

its not often that you get to see a table you made 21 years ago that lives 300 miles away. just after christmas though, one of my long time clients emailed to say that their table had sustained some damage over the holidays and needed some help. coincidentally, my shipper was in the area and was able to pick it up and return it to me for refinishing. i regret not taking a photo when it arrived, but i do have one below from early in the refinishing process. the scratch was not small, but neither was it deep, so it sanded right out. this table is one of my early studio style pieces and loyal readers will recognize the style from a recent post on a dining room we completed early last fall. its a comfort to me that we are still making pieces in a style i originally started working on way back in 1986. nice to know that an idea you came up with has some legs and staying power. click the photos to enlarge them ...
this is a close up of the red abalone inlay squares in the central element of the table design. the black is milk paint from the old fashioned milk paint company and looks as good as it did (minus the dog chews) 21 years ago. it polished up like new.
i had actually forgotten about the square detail, and now that im reminded, will maybe do a new piece or two using the square rather than our regular angled look.

regular angled look above from the dining room post last fall ...
early in the refinishing process. the oil finish we used in the early 90s has since been replaced by more durable brush on poly finishes and this client was good about refreshing his finish a couple times a year. theat did create quite an oil buildup that, while it protected the table, proved difficult to remove. the table was also in a sunny south facing room, which created a kind of sunburned bleached surface which was kind of whitish until we got through it.
this picture shows my first wiping with mineral spirits ... more work to do ...
and here it is after the first coat of finish ... ill be interested to hear what the clients have to say about it after it is returned to pennsylvania on thursday ... its a cool thing to visit with an old friend ...