Thread: Old Silky Oak Box

Some better pictures could make seeing the problems a bit easier .

How to fix without ruining it .
Don't go sanding it with coarse sand paper. Sanding away into fresh wood makes things hard to fix and definitely ruins things.
From what I can see it looks original and nothing like that has been done .

Clean joints and re glue the loose bits back on .
Use Hide Glue if you can, to be traditionally correct.

Lightly clean the surface by either just a wash of soap and water.
Or, I like to wash and lightly clean dust and grime off with a Linseed oil and mineral turps mix.
I use a fine worn out paper and /or 0000 steel wool .
Dry it off.
Give it a re shine with some shellac. Just a light re polish with a thin mix and a rubber.
This will give it a nice soft shine and keep it original looking if done right .

You could then wax it as well .


There is a restoration section on the forum as well .
The same guys down there hang around here, but the thread probably belongs there.
https://www.woodworkforums.com/f173

Rob

You should do as little as possible. First, give it a clean with Ubeaut polish reviver. You may find that is all that is needed, if the joints aren't loose. If it needs to be re-glued, make sure you remove all the old glue first. Sure, you could use hide glue which will stick to itself, but it will also harbour any fungus that was in the old glue and possibly caused it to fail.