Qld maple wardrobe

I was asked to restore this old wardrobe the other day. I imagine it is '30-50's vintage and has the European labour stamp in it. It is solid Qld maple on the show panels, kauri/hoop for the back, flat panels and drawer. The drawer bottom is ply.
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It had a good shunt at sometime or other and this cracked the top.
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The bottom of the drawer was worn/broken away, the door was broken off its hinges and falling apart and the mirror is missing. There is one missing side of the maple crown moulding that will need replacing.
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Fist step was to remove all the old shellac - fortunately the original finish by the looks. I use a spray bottle of metho and plastic film and a small amount of patience to remove this. After resting 10-15mins the shellac has flaked and can be scraped off with a block of soft wood. I have only to do the very bottom of the wardrobe now. All the interior wood received a wash down with warm water to remove years of grime.
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I disassembled the door, cleaned the joints and reglued it. The maple has some beautiful figure in it.
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continued...

Using my new found skills with hide glue I repaired the top and planed it flat and clean, though left it with a tooled finish as a nod to the methods used to give it a new lease of life. The original wood was machine dressed as evidenced by the copious and obvious cutter marks:roll:
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Finally I made up a couple of new drawer runners from some jarrah, cleaned up the drawer with a router and glued them on. I accept this may wear the cabinet faster so will address that problem too.
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Still to do: clean base of cabinet, repair hinge panel, repair and mount crown moulding, mount hardware and do finish!
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Watching this one with interest. :2tsup:

Beautiful wardrobe, Mic. It's always good to see a piece come back to life after so nearly making it to the tip.

I love the workmanship and look of these old wardrobes but the ones with a single centre door are a PITA to use. They were generally made narrow for front-to-back hanging thus modern hangers can't fit across the width. Plus, with a few garments hung you can never see inside them properly. As you may gather I was happy to part with mine. Nice to see it come back from the dead though.
Are you going to put a rail across the width? If so you may want to consider coathanger length as a contraint... or you may have already done so.:wink:

Hadn't considered the hanging problems at all. There is a rail across the back with coat hooks and there had been a central dowel fastened into a couple of brass fittings. I was just going to replace that so clothes could be stored on coat hangers. It is for his daughter so perhaps child-size coat hangers would fit. It may be an opportunity to drum up some more work:wink:

Finished cleaning the lower parts and glueing miscellaneous bits and pieces back together. I've given it a wash in dilute shellac, about a 1/4lb cut to see whether the cleaning is OK. The bottom is a bit more weathered than the top but it's a gradual change so looks OK to my eye. All the blotchiness from cleaning has disappeared too so will start applying the finish soon. I'm going to use FW scandanavian oil and give it a burnished look.
Currently ageing the brass bits too.
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Keep going, it'll look beautiful! If it were mine, I'd use it for a hall cupboard for coats, hats, shoes etc, so the depth wouldn't be a problem. Seems a shame to hide it in a bedroom!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mic-d

I was asked to restore this old wardrobe the other day. I imagine it is '30-50's vintage and has the European labour stamp in it. It is solid Qld maple on the show panels, kauri/hoop for the back, flat panels and drawer. The drawer bottom is ply.

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that wardrobe might be older than you think
based on my recollection of an article in Aust Wood Review several years ago, the European labour vs Chinese labour thingy was mostly before WW1. So you could have a real antique there (something actually over 100 years old)

That will look beautiful Mic!! And full marks to you for taking it on and doing such a great job!!:2tsup::2tsup::2tsup::)

I hope you put a beveeled edge mirror int the middle panel. Such a piece cries out for it.

I think Ian may be right. I too think the piece is pre WW1.

Thanks guys. There is a trick in the light in that last photo. The horizontal grain panels are really much closer in colour to the rest.
You may be right about the age of it, although the European labour stamp was used up until sometime in the 50's. I just don't know the tricks to date it more finely :shrug:

Other things on today so I dropped one of the pieces of brass hardware in my own 'bucket of wrath', well, it's more like a little bottle of wrath:- and kept an eye on it every now and then. This is the result after a few hours and it might do, but I put it back for an overnight run.
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Very interested to know what your 'bucket of wrath' consists of!

You are quite correct on the use of the European Labour stamp, at least in Victoria it was used until the late 50's and possibly even in the 60's. Some of the pieces I've restored are very late pieces but still have the stamp and only one piece from around 1910 has the Chinese Labour stamp. There was a write up about it in the Museum of Victoria website in there Chinese section but I don't have a link.

Look forward to some more pictures.

Peter

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Originally Posted by F_Peter

Very interested to know what your 'bucket of wrath' consists of!

You are quite correct on the use of the European Labour stamp, at least in Victoria it was used until the late 50's and possibly even in the 60's. Some of the pieces I've restored are very late pieces but still have the stamp and only one piece from around 1910 has the Chinese Labour stamp. There was a write up about it in the Museum of Victoria website in there Chinese section but I don't have a link.

Look forward to some more pictures.

Peter

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Oh it's not a bucket of wrath:no::no: That was an allusion to the brew of the Master, which has sadly for us remained cloaked in mystery. This is hardly a pale shadow of it and as woodwould says, is one of any number of patina brews that dulls brass rather than ageing it gracefully. I made this one by first making some copper carbonate from copper sulphate and sodium carbonate. Then added the copper carbonate to cloudy ammonia. I prefer this finish to fuming just with ammonia, but I'm still working on what's in the guru's brew:(:(

The link I have to the Museum of Victoria is now dead - might be the same one you had.

The finished hardware. Didn't take before photos of the hinges and lock, but they were all bright polished brass.
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First coat of Scandanavian oil has been done.
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That's looking great Mic!:2tsup:

LLove the quilting in that timber!:):):)

Thanks Artme, there is some lovely figure in amongst it. I had glued and repaired the little broken mouldings below the crown moulding. Seen here in an earlier photo:
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However in a chat with the client he wasn't interested in reusing them. He supplied me with some new maple to make up new mouldings along with two side crown mouldings and asked me to mount the crown mouldings in a different way to the original (screwed). Today I undertook that task. It took most of the day to think, dimension, trial fit, stand back and contemplate, cut some more and repeat several times. :roll: I've had to fine tune each side moulding to fit the original front as it was a different size on each end. Lot's of fussy slow work. I used a jig from my coat stand to hold the work while fine tuning.
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I trial check of both corners, seems they are OK. There is a small 19mm moulding that will sit under the crown moulding.
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The mouldings all glued up just awaiting final sizing and my next challenge will be to colour match the new timber. :doh::doh::doh:
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Well another slow day trying to wrestle the crown mouldings but eventually I had them glued up at the bench then placed on the wardrobe to check the fit. It's not too bad but there will be some fairing and ageing to do. Next I clamped the back of the crown moulding tight to the cabinet with a couple of intervening veneers and glued and screwed the locking batten from side to side. Lastly, I glued in two tension blocks that hold the whole assembly in place.

After a trip to Bunnys this morning to pick up some extra prooftint colours, I set about colour matching the new timber to the old. First task was to give all the new timber a wash with dilute shellac so the stain wouldn't be so patchy. After trialling many different formulas on scrap wood I settled on a mixture that gave a reasonable match on all the different shades of new timber.
Here is before and after.
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Then this arvo I tackled the repair to the hinge stile where it looks like the door has been ripped off its hinges, taking a large chunk of timber with it.
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Firstly I made up a quick jig so I could route out the waste. I chose to clean most out with a mortising bit and then did the edges with a dovetail bit.
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After removing the piece of wood supporting the front edge against tearout, I was not happy to see a little bit of tearout - I must not have put the clamp right over the right spot. I used a piece of silver ash glued in with hide glue, not having any maple left to affect the repair.

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That's just about the back of this job broken, it has now only to be reassembled and final finish applied.

Apart from the mirror which the client will supply.

I rubbed all the show surfaces back with 0000 steel wool and Liberon Black Bison wax this morning... wax on, wax off...

Here's how it all began
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And this is how it finished up. It turned out the cup pulls I bought did not cover all the holes in the drawer front and some feint witness marks I found after cleaning the timber suggested it was some kind of oval drawer pull. The pulls I fitted were the best I could find but do not quite match IMO.
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I wish there was a better before photo of the pedestal handle, but I have had to crop this out of another. Very rusty old thing with a broken handle. It had left a very strong witness mark on the door so I really had to reuse it. After treating in my electrolysis bath I fitted a suitable brass handle from another pedestal handle. I darkened this brass handle to match the black of the pressed metal of the back plate.
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I did a little bit of selective ageing of the new timber such as the corner on the top of this moulding. (original chipped moulding on the front section)
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Here is the hinge stile repair
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I had to use a bit of lubricant to persuade the old screws out of the old door lock and this has discoloured the timber:(. I think I will have to give the whole door a wipe with oil to blend it in
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Anyway, there it is. Comments and criticism welcome as usual.

A very fine job. If I was the client I would be more than happy. I'm guessing that as they are inclined to have the wardrobe repaired rather than throw it out, which happens only too often, that they will be thrilled with your work.
Cheers
Frank

Thanks Frank, I think the client will be happy, I haven't told him it's finished yet...:)

Great work, Michael. You've turned an old hag into a raving beauty again!

Thanks Richard. :)

A very nice piece of work. I've enjoyed your posts.

Wow Mic-d. The wardrobe has come up an absolute treat! Nothing better than seeing a beautiful piece like this get a second life :):2tsup: I, too, have appreciated your WIP.