Restoring a French Antique Maple & Rosewood Chest of Drawers C1830/40 (Part One)

In this video presentation Simon walks us through some of Gilboys methods of restoring an antique French Commode Chest, dating from the Louis Philippe period of France's history.

Simon begins the restoration of the chest by carefully selecting period antique oak from Gilboys storage container. The oak is then cut and dimensioned to be used as replacement drawer runners which Simon installs without compromising the original structure of the antique chest. The runners are then glued in place using traditional hot melt, hide glue. (also known as Scotch Glue or Pearl Glue) Each runner is hand planed to fit each drawer.

Simon then goes on to repair the missing 'birds eye maple' veneer, by hand selecting an almost perfect matching period maple veneer from Gilboys chest of old veneers and antique furniture parts.

The next stage of the restoration process is replacing the small areas of missing Rosewood mouldings. Unusually for Simon, instead of using period wood sourced from Gilboys extensive stock of antique wood. He demonstrates a very modern way of replicating the moulding, using rubber moulds of the original parts and two-part epoxy resin.

Simon also explains and demonstrates the potential harm that can be done to antique rosewood by sanding it. 25:23

In part two Simon will go on to very carefully strip and sympathetically refinish the chest of drawers.

Simon was trained by https://www.dartington.org/ as an apprentice French Polisher, at the Dartington owned Staverton Joinery.

With business mentoring from 'The Prince's Trust' Simon opened his antique restoration business in 1994. Gilboys now operates from a beautiful purpose built building nestled beside the River Dart and alongside https://www.southdevonrailway.co.uk/

Video Index
00:32 Introduction
02:35 How to recognise your drawer runners are worn
03:31 Sourcing antique oak from the storage container
03:45 Bandsawing the oak
04:22 Planing the oak
05:37 Fitting the new oak drawer runners
08:22 Applying Hot hide Glue
09:46 Nails : the hidden danger
11:06 Planing the runners
12:31 Installing the repaired drawer
16:09 Reinstating the moulding
17:22 Veneer repairs
19:20 Matching the veneer
20:07 Cutting the veneer
23:23 Replacing the missing moulding
25:23 Advice when sanding old rosewood
28:30 Making a rubber mould for the moulding
30:25 Pouring the epoxy resin
32:09 What to do with the rosewood knobs

Видео Restoring a French Antique Maple & Rosewood Chest of Drawers C1830/40 (Part One) канала Gilboys