Wood re-purposing - Part 2

[fishingpol]

Here is what I believe was a small desk or possibly a dining room sideboard/server that was being thrown out at a jobsite I was working at several years ago. A co-worker asked me why I would keep that piece of junk and not buy a new one. Well, it was free, it was oak, and it had potential. It was covered in paint, but the old finish was some sort of lacquer that protected the wood underneath. All the legs were cut off and I had to disassemble part of it to make solid repairs, including new square oak legs. It now holds books, maps, dvd and Wii games along with other items that would otherwise clutter the house. The top, back and side panels are original. The piece had a square inkwell stain on the top back, so I figured it had some age to it.

 

[GAMMA RAY]

You did a great job fishingpol.....
It makes me sad to see something with potential like that thrown away...
Great job....

Now can you carve a leg lamp base out of wood like in your avatar?

 

[firefighterjake]

Very nice work . . . I always like it when folks are able to take trash and turn it into a treasure . . . whether it be an old house or an old piece of furniture.

 

[begreen]

That came out really nice fishingpol. Don't you love it when you find these treasures? I recently saw a chest of drawers that some local ladies picked up at the thrift store for $12. They stripped it and discovered a real gem. It was all curly maple with tiger maple corner posts. It took them two months to restore it, but in the end they saved a stunning treasure from being trash. I love that.

This is a shot of my Salvation Army find. It was painted industrial grey and looked like crap, with one leaf broken off. But I lifted it up and noticed the little sucker was heavy. When I stripped it I found the original brass tag from the Boston mfg and got it rough dated to about 1910. And the reason it was heavy was because it was solid oak. Not too bad for $10.

 

[DAKSY]

While I don't have a pic of it anywhere handy, I got an old green-painted
secretary when my Mom's mom passed away. It had sat near her easy chair
& had an old rotary phone on it. The phone had sat there for so long, that the
rubber pads on the bottom had bonded to the paint. My Dad thought it was
screwed to the top...I hadda violently twist the damn thing to get it loose...
My uncle's 2nd wife - who was one of them gimme this, gimme that people,
told me she knew it was a crappy homemade piece of junk & if I wanted to
get it out of there, I could have it for free. So I took it home...
I carefully stripped & sanded & found I had an antique piece of Shaker style
Mahogany furniture under 50+ years of paint. I refinished & polyed it over a month or so
& the next time the "Gimme Lady" came to my house & saw it, well, lets just say
she was HOT & fit to be tied...If I'd only had a camera...
I still chuckle when I think of how her "expert" eye for quality let her down...

 

[fishingpol]

Nice find for both of you. I worked at a building where there was a green torchiere style lamp painted grean with a metal shade being thrown out. That sucker was heavy. I stripped it and used toner paint to bring it to a bronze/black finish and picked out a beautiful torchiere shade that set into the fixture. A truly beautiful light that no one realized it's value. I also picked up a small roll-top desk that is about 24" high that was being thrown out. Nothing was wrong with that desk. I dusted it off and put in the house.

 

[fishingpol]

Now can you carve a leg lamp base out of wood like in your avatar?

I have to talk to the wife about modeling for that one... :coolhmm: