Thread: Table Restoration and Wood ID

I've just hit one of the surfaces with a little plane to see what the wood is. And it seems to be red all the way though. I had a feeling it could have been pine but stained. The table was not really heavy. When moving it around, the hardest part is the 4 dangly legs.

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Oh and whoever was building the table decided it would be wise to biscuit cut the slots for the table button into one of the dowels that connected the stretchers and legs of the table
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I had a chat with Kuffy about the table and he reckons that floating tenons would be the wisest method to restore the table with the original timbers. However, I do not have a festool domino, and I don't have access to a router until like mid November (at the wood club). And I haven't used a router before, other than on a router table so It would be pretty tricky for me to do floating tenons with machinery.
Kuffy suggested that I do endgrain mortises with a drill and chisel. but that sounds scary.

My initial idea to my friend was that I leave the legs, screw hardware and tabletop as they are and replace the timber to the exact dimension. But with the stretchers mortise and tenon-ed into the legs. But then this begs the question of what timber it is. I thinking that it would be Australian Red Cedar as it comes from the right Era. But I have no idea...

My friend is cool with the idea of replacing the timbers of the table, as long as its not a crazy different colour. Eg pine as the stretchers. And I told him I could make him something else with the current stretchers.

Have you guys got any advice for me regarding the restoration process. Would replacing the timbers (other than the legs and top) be a good idea? And Can someone help me ID the wood of the table.

Let me know if more photos of the wood is required. I can give the table top a sand to see what is under there.

Thank you heaps in advance.

Considering the design 1920s ish is spot on. A large amount were made of blackwood - often oval shaped. Yours looks like an extension version - which I haven't personally seen, but the legs look spot on for the blackwood ones (some were made of mountain ash or whatever -often stained -but those ones are easy to pick)

I'm with Kuffy re using floating tenons. If you do that you'll have a solid piece that's better than the original. It's not difficult to do using a router. Otherwise, if you decide to replace the stretchers (probably reasonable considering the splits), then M&T is the go.
None of these techniques are difficult, but it helps if you have someone with experience leaning on hand to show you the best way...and there may be more than one best way.

The fastest way to get that restored , back together and out of your shed , If that's what you want to do , is to repair the joins by re doweling the right way .

There is only one right way when doing dowel repair this way . And then there is all the other options , some even giving better strength . They will take longer though .


The basics of what to do is .

The dowels look like 1/2 inch . Make sure you have the right size same dowel to re do the joins with before you start .

You knock the joins apart , saw the dowels if you have to , just mark out on top where everything goes back first .

With a leg join as an example , You center punch the sawn off dowel and find a drill that is under size . So if your dowel is 12.7 you want 9 or 9.5 mm drill bit . You carefully drill down the center of the first three dowels into the leg . If You get it perfect you can rotate the drill around to enlarge the hole . The dowels shouldn't go in more than 40 or 50 mm . Its better if you can determine the depth of them asap so you know your going past the bottom .

Then you pour boiling hot water down the holes , let the first lot sit there a few minutes and tip or blow out with compressed air and pour in a second lot .

If you drill right and heat right with water the remains of the drilled dowel will slide out , You try and hook onto the dowel , I like a good sized screw for this .
You then wash out the holes and leave to drain and dry a week in a sunny spot if your using new type glue .

You now have the exact locations to re dowel . Use a better glue than the Hide glue that was in there . Get the right clamps and put it back together .

If you do this, it wont work if you don't see the original remains sliding out of the holes . For dowling to work the holes have been drilled very precisely. It can go wrong if your not careful . If it does then go down another path .

That's the fastest decent repair.

I would add one essential step to Auscabs very thorough explanation.

Dry assemble everything to ensure that it will go back together and align properly before using that "... better (modern) glue than the Hide glue that was in there ....". You certainly do not want any unpleasant surprises when you have wet epoxy or even PVA starting to cure.

Originally Posted by wood spirit

Considering the design 1920s ish is spot on. A large amount were made of blackwood - often oval shaped. Yours looks like an extension version - which I haven't personally seen, but the legs look spot on for the blackwood ones (some were made of mountain ash or whatever -often stained -but those ones are easy to pick)

Thank you Wood spirit!!

Originally Posted by AlexS

I'm with Kuffy re using floating tenons. If you do that you'll have a solid piece that's better than the original. It's not difficult to do using a router. Otherwise, if you decide to replace the stretchers (probably reasonable considering the splits), then M&T is the go.
None of these techniques are difficult, but it helps if you have someone with experience leaning on hand to show you the best way...and there may be more than one best way.

Noted AlexS, thank you for your tips. I'll chat with my friend and his dad to see what we come up with. I'll see if I can get one of the boys at the wood club to give me a intro to routers

Originally Posted by auscab

The fastest way to get that restored , back together and out of your shed , If that's what you want to do , is to repair the joins by re doweling the right way .

There is only one right way when doing dowel repair this way . And then there is all the other options , some even giving better strength . They will take longer though .


The basics of what to do is .

The dowels look like 1/2 inch . Make sure you have the right size same dowel to re do the joins with before you start .

You knock the joins apart , saw the dowels if you have to , just mark out on top where everything goes back first .

With a leg join as an example , You center punch the sawn off dowel and find a drill that is under size . So if your dowel is 12.7 you want 9 or 9.5 mm drill bit . You carefully drill down the center of the first three dowels into the leg . If You get it perfect you can rotate the drill around to enlarge the hole . The dowels shouldn't go in more than 40 or 50 mm . Its better if you can determine the depth of them asap so you know your going past the bottom .

Then you pour boiling hot water down the holes , let the first lot sit there a few minutes and tip or blow out with compressed air and pour in a second lot .

If you drill right and heat right with water the remains of the drilled dowel will slide out , You try and hook onto the dowel , I like a good sized screw for this .
You then wash out the holes and leave to drain and dry a week in a sunny spot if your using new type glue .

You now have the exact locations to re dowel . Use a better glue than the Hide glue that was in there . Get the right clamps and put it back together .

If you do this, it wont work if you don't see the original remains sliding out of the holes . For dowling to work the holes have been drilled very precisely. It can go wrong if your not careful . If it does then go down another path .

That's the fastest decent repair.

Thanks Auscab for the detailed description!! Appreciate it!!