Color Matching New Wood To Old

I’m often asked if I can do a repair and match the color of the existing piece. I have matched numerous pieces over the years and it’s not that difficult.

Preparation – The first step is to sand the new piece. I work through a series of sanding grits from 120 to 220 grit paper. Next the piece is dusted off and wiped clean with a tack rag, a cloth treated with a sticky substance, to remove all sanding dust.

Base stain – I pick a base stain that is as close to my target color as possible, making sure not to go too dark. I prefer to wipe the stain on, coat a large area and then wipe the excess off.

Secondary color – Wait overnight for the base stain to dry and then it’s time to assess where to go next. This is where the art comes in, knowing what color to add to get the right effect. Once you’ve chosen your color, apply it just like the first.

If the color still isn’t right – Again wait overnight before the next step. By this point, your wood is saturated and won’t accept any more stain, so it’s time for glazing. Glazing is a way to stain over a finish. The next step is to apply a coat of shellac. Shellac is quick drying, but I still like to wait a minimum of four hours. Once the shellac is dry, scuff sand the pieces with 220 grit sandpaper, and use your tack rag to remove all the dust.

Additional Colors – You can add additional color at this point as before. If you need to tweak colors after this, it’s a matter of shellac, stain and repeat.

Top Coat – Once you have achieved the color that you need, it is time to apply the top coat. Three to five coats of your finish should offer years of protection. You can use varnish, shellac, urethane whatever finish is appropriate for your piece. Sand with 220 grit paper between coats and clean with your tack rag.

Final touch – You can finish off your piece with a couple of coats of paste wax. If you’ve worked carefully, and used your artistic flair, your new piece will now match the original will little or no difference.

An Interesting Repair

A customer came to me with an antique three legged table, the problem was it used to have four legs. During a recent move one of the legs broke off and was lost. The leg was turned, meaning it was round rather than square, and to make matters worse it also had a series of V-grooved beads along the main portion of the leg.

Measurements - I started by taking measurements of one leg; both diameter and where it occurs on the length. Those measurements were used to create a drawing to work from.

Preparing the Blank- Next I glued up a blank that was 3” square and 24” long for the new leg. The next day I cut the corners off of the blank using a table saw, forming a long octagon. The blank was then mounted in my lathe and I transferred the measurements from my drawing to the blank.

Turning the Leg – Using gouges, skews and other turning tools I created the curve of the leg on my blank. When the turning matched my drawing it was time to sand it smooth. The lathe is set at a high speed and very fine sand paper is used to clean up any tool marks.

Groove & Beads – This detail was on a serpentine section of the leg, and required a special jig and a router to cut. The jig followed the curve of the leg and supported the router at a specific height over the leg. The router bit cut the detail, the leg was rotated 20 degrees, and the process repeated eight times.

Assembly – I trimmed the broken leg on the table and then drilled a hole in the center of it. A matching hole was drilled in the new leg and the two halves were joined with a dowel pin and some glue.

Finish – The table had a natural finish but the new leg was much lighter. I stained it to match the rest of the table, and gave the new leg several coats of varnish to protect it.

Many people would think that without the original leg, the table couldn’t be fixed. Before you make that decision about your broken furniture, check with an expert.

There are two basic styles of doors used in furniture; slab and panel, but there are several variations to choose from in these styles

Slab doors are just that, a slab of wood. They are usually a piece of solid wood, plywood, medium density fiberboard, etc. They can be plain or have some details to them, but they are usually used in lower quality furniture or in European style cabinets.

Panel doors consist of styles (vertical pieces), rails (horizontal pieces) and a panel of some type. A panel can be wood, glass, plastic, metal, cloth or pretty much any material that can be suspended between the styles & rails. Let’s look at some of the more popular panel styles for furniture.

Flat panel doors are the most basic of the family. The panel can be as simple as a piece of ¼” veneer plywood, although these tend to sound flimsy when they close. A better choice is to use a thicker panel. These require relief cuts to fit into the groove, but they do give the door a more substantial feel.

Raised panel doors as the name states, has the field of the panel raised from the edge. When designing your door panels there are several patterns to choose from. You can use a straight, curved or ogee patterns to name a few.

Cathedral Doors are another version of a panel door. While these can be flat panels, they are more often seen raised. The top rail is changed to incorporate a curve, or curves, giving you an additional decorative element.

These are just some basic facts about door designs used in furniture making. There’s no way I could cover everything in one quick article, so feel free to contact me if you’d like more information.

The chest that couldn’t be repaired – or could it?

I was recently contacted by a customer who had a cedar chest she wanted repaired. It was her mother’s hope chest that has been in the family for over 60 years. She didn’t want it cleaned up or refinished, she wanted it re-veneered. She spoke with several woodworkers about the job and they all said the same thing. Because of the curved top, it couldn’t be done. Then she called me.

I went to their home, looked at the chest and said “I’ll do it”. I must say the chest looked a little worn and had a few repairs that needed to be un-done.

The first step was to remove the old veneer. Some areas just flaked off, while others need a hot air gun, a putty knife and lots of patience.

Once that was done I used a chisel and a palm sander to smooth out the surface. There were several digs and tears in the cedar that needed to be repaired. A little wood filler and some final sanding and it was ready for the next step.

Using a mahogany veneer and contact cement the new face was applied. Special care was used on the curved top and the book-matched front. Some light sanding and it was time to re-assemble the chest.

Some custom mixed stain to match the original chest and I finish it off with several coats of urethane. Finally it was delivery day. Both mother and daughter were overwhelmed with the finished piece, especially after being told several times that the job could not be done.

Some pieces are too far gone to repair, but often times the repair is a matter of finding the correct craftsman. In this case the furniture was structurally sound and just needed some cosmetic work. A family now has a second chance to enjoy an heirloom piece.

What’s the difference between solid wood, real wood veneer and manufactured woods?

Real wood, all wood, simulated wood, you’ve heard it all, but what does it mean? What is the difference between them, and do you really want them in your furniture? We’ll look at three properties that show the differences. First let’s look at the definitions.

Solid wood – This is wood straight from the tree. Cut into boards, planed smooth and turned into furniture.

Plywood veneer – This is made by alternating thin sheets of wood at 90 degrees. Furniture quality wood veneer has few or no voids in the inner sheets and the outer sheets can be faced with any species of wood.

Manufactured woods – This is manufactured from wood chips or wood dust, combined with adhesives then pressed together into sheets.

So now that we’ve identified the materials, let’s look at how they differ.

Wood movement
· Plywood and manufactured woods are both very stable. While they do change in size it is very minimal due to the cross grain / adhesive construction.
· Solid wood is the most prone to seasonal movement. It varies between species but it is manageable.

Ability to hold fasteners
· The grain structure of solid wood allows the fasteners to bite and hold well.
· Plywood holds fasteners well across its face, but not on edge. The layers of wood don’t provide the continuous grain for the fasteners to grab.
· Due to the absence of grain in manufactured wood it has poor holding power both on the face and its edge.

Strength
· Due to the alternating grain in plywood it is very strong and is less likely to deflect.
· Solid wood also tends to be strong, but will bend more than veneer.
· Manufactured wood has minimal strength. It is very likely to bend or break when put under loads, like a shelf full of books.

Now that you know more about these materials, you can see why quality furniture is made with solid wood and veneers, but not with manufactured woods

What makes a good drawer?

Drawers are in our furniture and our cabinets. What makes some drawer work great, and others not so much? There are three things that effect drawer quality; materials, construction and sliding mechanisms.

Let’s start with materials. The highest quality drawer boxes are made from hardwoods such as maple. On high end work you may even find solid wood drawer bottoms, although veneers are the norm due to their strength and stability. One step down are boxes made from veneer plywood such as Baltic Birch. This type of plywood is not only is it strong, but the edges look good. The lowest quality drawers are made of some version of “twas” wood (thanks Walt). It twas wood, then it was ground up, mixed with glue and pressed into a board. This is the most likely to fail due to the lack of internal strength.

The next measure of drawer quality is construction. The best drawers will be assembled using dovetail joinery. It is strong and attractive, and when done well, they can’t fail. There are several methods of interlocking joints that work well but they are not as strong. The bottom of the barrel is a butt joint, two pieces of wood butt together. They are usually glued and nailed, but this is a very weak joint and usually doesn’t last. One more thing, the bottom should sit in a groove in the sides and drawer front, not just nailed on the bottom. Over time the weight of the items in the drawer will wear on the nails and eventually will cause the bottom to fall off.

A high end piece may work very well without any mechanical assistance but generally slides are required. It could be something simple like a wood on wood slide or a mechanical slide. These are generally used on dressers and larger drawer, so the need to stand up to a fair amount of wear and tear. Mechanical slides fall into two basic categories; rollers and ball bearings. Rollers are more popular due to their lower cost. Ball bearing slides are considerably stronger, smoother, and allow for over travel. Most drawers only open ¾ of the way making you reach in for items in the back. Over travel allows the back of the drawer to extend beyond the face frame.

Keep this information in mind the next time you buy a piece with a drawer in it, you’ll know what you’re getting into.

What do you need to know when buying a power tool?

Let me state that I’m not just a lifelong tool junkie; I also sold power tools for seven years. In those years I’ve trained with a lot of manufacturers and learned what makes a good tool, and what to avoid.

Rule #1: Buy the best tool you can afford. If you buy a cheap tool, odds are you’ll have to replace it faster than if you had bought a quality tool. That said; if it is something you will use once a year, you don’t need to get top of the line, just know what you getting into.

Rule #2: Make sure you compare apples to apples. A store brand 18v drill isn’t the same as one from a manufacturer like Makita or the like. Some manufacturers even make two grades of tools that look identical. They do this by exchanging bearings with nylon sleeves, and steel gears with aluminum or plastic. While the models make look the same, they will have a slightly different model number, and usually a significant price difference.

Rule #3 (and this is a personal one): Don’t buy store brand tools from big box stores. They tend to be less durable, less powerful, and harder to repair. Too many times I’ve met people who said “but they have a life time warranty” only to find out that the parts are not available, or they have to jump through hoops to get any satisfaction.

Rule #4: Do your research. Talk to contractors, go to a specialty tool store, or read woodworking magazines. Any good contractor will share their thoughts with you, and rarely will you find one of these stores that won’t help a weekend warrior. I’m a fan of books and magazines from The Taunton Press, who always have quality material.

Rule #5: Don’t get hung up on one manufacturer. Some people will only by DeWalt or Milwaukee, etc. There is a problem with this theory; every manufacturer has some great products, and some dogs (with the possible exception of Bosch). I believe that in the long run buying the best tool available is better than having a color coded tool chest.

OK, these may be the rantings of a tool junky, but I think if you use this information on your next tool purchase, you’ll end up with a tool that will last you a long time.