Gate leg table from Victoria - Mahogany?

Hi,
This is something that was destined for the dump pit but mine now. I'm taking a guess it's mahogany but appreciate being corrected.
I saw something with the hinges underneath having the same style of cuts and they said it was 1830. Could I be that lucky with this age?
I applied metholated spirits and it certainly feels like shellac on the top. I was thinking of washing with warm water and Sunlight soap (learnt this from this site), any comment?
I really want to clean the top up to get uniform colour ignoring the knocks and scrapes (patina).
I normally work with blonde shellac to highlight silky oak but this is different.
Any advice on how to get the same colour going where the wood has been exposed?
For the broken hinge I'm looking at removing the pin and putting a good metal hinge there.

Can anyone help me with the age and proper description of things like the legs?

I've had to fix some modern furniture lately to sell. Just doesn't feel right. I always want to break it down and take to dump :(

Appreciate how people on this site have taught me so much.

Cheers,
Nick



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Remake the wooden hinge. Don’t replace it with a metal one. It would ruin the piece IMHO.

I’ll post a link to Thomas Johnson repairing a gate leg card table. He had to make a new hinge so it might give you some tips.

YouTube

Thank you. I realised watching that I was learning something with every screen shot :)

Its not Mahogany . It could be Cherry.
A picture of the cleaner looking middle top from underneath may be the best to see.

Rob

This is the top cleaned last night under light. I'll try for underneath today.
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Hmmm , Not so sure about Cherry either seeing those pictures . Still a possibility .
Not so close, if you get a shot of the middle.

It's looking a little Australian Red Cedarish to me.

Photo's
1 : Top after cleaned with water
2 : Side after cleaning
3 : Edges with some shellac removed
4 : Mild sanding of shellac
5 : Scraping of shellac to wood only
6: Shellac removed and cleaned with meths

I have a lot of red cedar and feels to heavy for that.
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Looks as close grained as Cherry but cherry usually looks darker . Starts off Salmon pink and ends up darker and more rich with exposure to light. Then it fades back. I give up . Where its washed off it reminds me of stuff Ive seen on plywood faces. Not Hoop pine but a bit like that . Its a hardwood though not a pine , or is it ?

Rob

Well I'm committed to cleaning the shellac off now :) I think I'll experiment underneath with new blonde shellac to see how it looks. I did wet the area with meths and liked what I saw. Making the hinged joint will be a challenge and force me to learn more so it's around for a while. I wish I could determine a date for it.

I'm with Rob on this; the grain and ring patterns look very much like Cherry, but something's just not quite right.... I don't suppose it's something like Kauri or NZ (Silver?) Beech?

Hopefully one day I find out but I'm really glad to rescue it. I hope when completed SWMBO says yes it can stay.

Finally scraped and sanded the top to reveal it all. I don't know how to control the camera colour control so I have put some white objects in the shots as well. I think the plan is to use shellac.

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It does look like red cedar. If it is OLD red cedar, it may be heavier than YOUNG red cedar.
It is very nice either way.

Lighter than pine but heavier than the red cedar I have. Also doesn't indent with finger nail pressure but maybe old red cedar is denser? Definitely off the mark with the mahogany idea :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by elanjacobs

I'm with Rob on this; the grain and ring patterns look very much like Cherry, but something's just not quite right.... I don't suppose it's something like Kauri or NZ (Silver?) Beech?

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100% not Kauri .. the grain is different. (I also would place a high bet on it not being Mahogany, but beyond that!?!)

How about NZ Rimu? Hard wood with similar grain and colours.

I think the colour is closer to red cedar.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by riverbuilder

How about NZ Rimu? Hard wood with similar grain and colours.

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Rimu tends to have more contrast in the timber, and you don't get the 'flame' kind of patterns in the grain.
Taraire matches the grain, but is more blond than what you have there, except for the picture on the right.
That would be a perfect match with my computer desktop (Taraire).

Found it was repaired on one corner (or maybe started that way). Due to an accident Tung oil was used. Will research to see if shellac will go over Tung oil.
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Didn't like the dark patches so waited and finally sanded then applied water based satin lacquer.

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Could it be Myrtle?