Spiers of Ayr at work.

**auscab** · 22nd January 2013, 10:07 PM

I thought you might like to see this nice old tool doing a bit of work

The top of this Edwardian Mahogany sideboard was split most of the way down one of it's joins and had quite a buckle in it down the length.

As well ,it had holes in the top probably from where the original back supported a shelf which would have had columns that sat in the holes. and also someone had put screws through the top to hold it down.

We heated and split the rest of the broken join .Then it was re planed with a no 7 Bedrock .The two halves glued back together with two pack [Techniglue ]
I used a brace and a reamer to open out the holes with a taper to take some tapered plugs.

The good bit of the job was pulling out one of the Spiers do do the job it was made for, Working a nice Mahogany board , traversing out the bows and buckles to the top just to the point of staying clear of the Satinwood inlay, finishing off with straight passes. after that it was traversed and straightened with cabinet scrapers.

We will be refitting then french polishing with shellac.

Cheers Rob

**pmcgee** · 22nd January 2013, 11:53 PM

Nice Rob. Very nice.

I have a question ... when you start on a piece like that which I assume would have an old finish ... do you just sharpen up the blade and get started?

I assume the edge would cop some flak from the varnish or shellac or whatever at first ... and possibly dull quickly?

I was wondering if you would treat it in any way or sand or whatever to help get to the real wood?

Or if that didn't apply in this case, then what about some other piece with a hard old finish?

Thanks,
Paul

**auscab** · 23rd January 2013, 01:59 AM

Thanks Paul, In the first picture with the split top, the finish is still on it. I glued it back together ,plugged it then stripped it.
It has to be stripped first before planing ,for the work to be done quick and clean, unless its something small. Finish does dull the blade and foul up the plane, and a job that big will take a fair bit longer to do. I think it's good to try planing off a finish to understand why it's not done that way though [ I tried it when no one was looking ]. Something as big as that top will convince any body what a great thing as can of stripper is.

I just stripped that top with metho. It was a typical thick old jammy spirit varnish finish that comes with a lot of furniture from around that time, awful crap compared to a 100% shellac job.

I think with some of these newer 2 pack finishes the only way you can get them off is planing through the finish though. I repaired a friends broken headstock on his new acoustic guitar that he dropped. Getting through the 2 pack after I had glued it up was very hard , numerous bursts of hard sanding with 120 grit and metho poured on to keep the paper cutting hardly touched it. Cabinet scraper and chisels were having a hard time as well. heat may work but it would have undone the 2 pack glue join repair as well, I think.

Generally with sanding, sand paper is only ever used after I'm finished with all the hand tools, it's a trade no no to not leave sanding til the very end, unless there is no other way.

Rob

**Ball Peen** · 23rd January 2013, 08:25 PM

Nice Rob,
I used to own a Rosewood Spiers Jack. It belonged to one of the celebrated Bris. Harvey Bros. It was sold along with a coffin side Mathison smooth when I built my house and shed.

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