Building nice wood

The Estey Organ Desk

We dont dont often take on work like this, but we just did a refinish on this 19th century desk for a friend ... The story was intriguing ... It was supposedly made by the owner or son of the owner of the Estey Organ Company of Brattleboro, Vermont ... An amazing 100 plus year old Veront company that made over 520,000 !! reed organs and over 3200 full size pipe organs before it went out of business in 1960. The desk appears to be from about the right mid to late 19th century time frame judging from the look of it. It had a severely distressed, insulted and alligatory shellac finish that was beyond saving which Jim removed with a little (lot) of alcohol and a white Scotchbrite pad ... After some serious sanding, we put a couple coats of dye stain and our typical gloss/gelstain/satin finish ... It now looks like its ready for another hundred years ... Out the door Friday morning ... Click the photos to enlarge them ...
This is in the sanding stage, ready for the first coat of stain ...
The completed desk with the fall front open ...
Trevor made a quick replacement arch top ... the second from the left ... It had a neat detail. The shapes are cut from 1/4 thick lumber, but the back side of the profile is relieved to 1/8" thick which gives the appearance that the wood is half as thick as it is ... clever ....