Luke - I'm Your Uncle

Doesn’t that picture remind you of a Storm Trooper from Star Wars? Hell, one of them was probably related to Darth Vader, maybe a brother, so I figured he’d be Luke’s uncle. Actually, it’s a respirator mask for noxious fumes and sanding dust.

Refinishing old furniture has been a hobby of mine for longer than I care to remember. For the past few years it’s been put on the back burner while all the broken bones in both my arms have been healing – as much as they’re going to heal.

Lately, however, I’ve been on a binge. I started with a dining room hutch of ours that had been abused for a long, long time. I removed the upper shelving unit, then stripped and refinished the base unit in its natural pine. The top looks like a sheet of glass. Very proud of that piece. Too bad I don't have before and after pictures of it.

When I visited my daughter and her husband in Georgia a while back, they asked me to spruce up an old bedroom chest they had found at the local Goodwill store. It was not in the best shape structurally, so it took a little more work to get it looking presentable. I had to replace both side panels and brace most of its supports. I stained it a darker shade, then put three coats of polyurethane on it. Below are the before and after pictures.

When I left to return to North Carolina, they asked if I would consider doing another Goodwill chest they had. I loaded it into my pickup and brought it home.

One of its previous owners had attempted to rebuild it and had totally fucked it up. The lower three drawers had a pattern carved into them, and whoever tried to repair it in the past had taken one of the drawer fronts off and, for some reason replaced it upside down. Apparently they had fiddled with all the drawer fronts because none of them fit into the carcass properly. You can see in the picture on the left that all the drawers stick out from the base unit.

Lots of rebuilding, sanding, staining and sealing ensued, but I think the final product was worth it. In this photo, you can see how the pattern in the lower three drawers was designed to look.

I can’t really discuss my next project here until next week, but I will show before and after pictures of it next time.

So far, none of these projects have been for profit, but hopefully that will change. I’m going to see my daughter this weekend and we’ve planned a trip to their local Goodwill store. I’m hoping they’ll have one or two pieces that show some potential.

Later,

obi