Antique dresser repair - Woodworking Talk

woodnthings · 08-01-2009, 02:11 PM

The antique (circa 1936) bed rail project has led to more repairs/restorations,
The ball foot on the dresser was mising a considerable chuck off the back side, barely noticable until turned upside down. Other problems were loose joints just about everywhere, nails in the drawer glides that were loose and falling down, knots in rails that made them weak, a loose back, just nailed on. I think that if this truly was an antique, it would not have been made with such a shoddy construction. My guess is either someone made some temporarily perment repairs or the factory that made the thing was run by rough carpenters, maybe pipefitters, rather than woodworkers.

To replace the turned section of ball foot I had to turn a duplicate section...man I totally respect you woodturners....cut a section out to replace the missing one and epoxy it in. see photos.

nzgeordie · 08-01-2009, 02:27 PM

Nice job woodnthings. Furniture restoration is an art in itself and that job looks real professional. BTW, what's the wood?

rrich · 08-01-2009, 02:28 PM

Wow Bill, that's a good repair.

On the construction of the dresser...

Thinking of what my parents bought during the 1930's, I would say that the construction techniques that you found were fairly typical. It was the depression and people wouldn't spend money. People bought 99% based on price and 1% based upon function.

I know that the "Cheapest is best" mentality of my parents lasted all of their lives.

I think that the dresser was built that way because everything else was built way too.

woodnthings · 08-05-2009, 02:43 PM

Further inspection of this dresser revealed the drawers were "junk"
and the internals needed to be gutted and replaced. Drawer slides were worn and broken, drawer bottomes were missing a dado across one of the front panels, and warped, drawer separators were too thin and cracked, drawers tilted down too far when pulled even a little ways out....
So, after about a weeks work on and off it's all back together, better than new and the drawers slide great and don't tip.

Originally taken on as a "challenge" I really got into this project and restoring the dresser to "better than new condition structurally" The appearance is left untouched to maintain the antique look and possibly value if any. Restoration may become my new calling, but in this case there was no renumeration, just the challenge. No, on second thought I still enjoy designing and building my own projects, but this was actually fun!

bill

woodnthings · 08-05-2009, 02:48 PM

More detail pictures and final result:

red · 08-06-2009, 10:21 AM

Very nice job. From trash to treasure.

Red