Thread: Restoring an old writing slope

OMG . Antique destruction may have been a better name for the thread.

How subtle of you. LOL .

Its a Tunbridge Box .

Antique Tunbridge box - Google Search

Tunbridge ware - Wikipedia

Oh well . I hope to see you impress us with something that looks as good as that did . Not necessarily as complex .

You could have just as easily knocked up a box to veneer and place the original on a shelf to study ??

Your Bench is looking good BTW.

LOL, you are right. But to my defence, it wasn't in a good way

Well done botesmj1.

I did similar thing to a 19C Tea Caddy. I plunged the whole caddy into boiling water. It was a real eye opener how the box was constructed.

I hope you'll update this post with your WIP photos.

Good to see you getting a bit of spare time at last to do something you like. Your bench looks fantastic and very solid. I look forward to the updates on your restoration and as you say, it's good to see the construction under the fine veneer.

Oh no! I can't un-see what has been done.

boy-hiding-eyes.jpg

I hope you get some good insights and learning being able to see beneath the surface so to speak.

Yes the bench looks great! And a nice little stash of timber behind it.

Good luck with the box.

Solid as a rock. I glued an additional piece of ply on the bottom, keeping the old one in place. This made the bottom nice and stable. Also managed to reglue all the failing joints and fill in all the missing pieces on the ebony edging. Next steps to color them back to be the same and onto starting the veneer work.

This might work

Hi Jacques,

Interesting project!

How are you planning to veneer the curves? Will you use hide glue or PVA or something else? If you’re making shaped cauls I’ve found that facing them with cork tile (Bunnings) helps distribute the pressue evenly.

May I ask where you sourced those rather exotic bandings?

Looking forward to seeing how this develops. Thanks for sharing.

Best regards,

Brian

Hi Brian, I have no idea to be honest. I will have to watch a few YouTube videos first [emoji848]. I was thinking of rigging up a vacuum bag or something.


I bought the banding from this guy on Etsy. I think he is in Spain.
10 Units. You can choose the models you want from those that | Etsy

Two old ways they veneered the curves were.
1. Sand stitched up in a bag and heated to press around the corners .

Or 2. The most likely way that was done originally was they got an appropriate piece of canvas and glued / tacked a stick each end . Do a test run to set it up . Apply hide glue . Run over it with a hot iron & moisture . Clamp it down with a board on top then by the sticks each side . To pull it around the corners . Or clamp it down to a flat board upside down then pull the sticks up with clamps for the corners . The canvas and sticks is how they veneered round columns with hide glue .

Edit . Actually the most likely first fastest way that would have been done is with a veneer hammer and hide glue . Quick and easy . Canvas is the second way when it’s a little more complex but would be great if your not using hide glue .

Rob

Rob,
Thanks so much for that info. Always so much more to learn! I hadn’t come across either of those techniques so another hole in my education plugged!

Regards,
Brian

With the inlay to mirror the old look or without? I'm leaning towards with the inlay bands.

With.