More fixer upper furniture!

[Kashka-Kat]

Got four of these beauties for $100 - solid walnut, solid glue joints, built like the proverbial brick s*** house! In looking up Gunlocke chairs I see that there is value in having the original finish - yet the finish is not exactly in the best of shape. At what point does the value diminish and you would decide to just remove old finish? I was thinking of dark walnut oil finish or something like that.... very much open to any and all suggestions including shellac (would that be what it is? Seems to come off with denatured alcohol, but yet the date stamp on it is 1950 so were they still using shellac then?)

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[Kashka-Kat]

This is pic EXACTLY like a table I was given.... or I should say how it will be when Im done with it. Amazed to find pic so exactly the same. Mine is missing the drawer. When I take the top off there is just an opening - nothing underneath to support the drawer nor can I tell where any other pieces might have been attached to hold up the drawer. Like the pic, the height of the drawer opening is same as the width of the apron - how is it being held up? Spoze I could just attach plywood somehow to the bottom but would prefer to reconstruct as it was originally - any ideas?

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[Casey]

I believe the beautiful wood chair would prove to be hard maple. Does not diminish it at all, they are handsome and comfy.
Casey

[Al F. Furnituremaker]

The finish on your chairs is too far gone to be of any value. Refinishing will actually add to the value. Here is a picture of three Gunlocke chairs I did for a vintage office. The desk chair is walnut. One side chair is white oak, the other maple. Their finishes were in various stages of ruin. The desk chair went through a flood.

I currently have a large walnut office desk (sometimes called teacher's desk) in my shop to be repaired and refinished for the same office.

[Kashka-Kat]

Thanks to you both! Al, what kind of finish did you do on the walnut chair - its beautiful - maybe I dont want to go super-dark after all.

Casey - Im pretty sure that one in the pic is walnut because closeup it really does look like it, and also the stamp on the bottom reads (among other things): 20N WAL

However the other 3 have same arms and back, but slightly different seat and legs - I took another look and those do look like different wood, a lot like maple and the stamp on those is not WAL but 20 WF - whatever that means! Also the wood seems heavier,

Thanks again - I love these chairs, so very comfy - designed to fit the human body.

[Al F. Furnituremaker]

The finish on the walnut was a water-white clear coat, no stain. I use professional products so probably the closest you could come is a waterbased finish. They usually are much clearer than oil based products.

[Al F. Furnituremaker]

As far as the codes on the bottom, Gunlocke is still in business, maybe they could decode them.

[Al F. Furnituremaker]

This is pic EXACTLY like a table I was given.... or I should say how it will be when Im done with it. Amazed to find pic so exactly the same. Mine is missing the drawer. When I take the top off there is just an opening - nothing underneath to support the drawer nor can I tell where any other pieces might have been attached to hold up the drawer. Like the pic, the height of the drawer opening is same as the width of the apron - how is it being held up? Spoze I could just attach plywood somehow to the bottom but would prefer to reconstruct as it was originally - any ideas?

oak libr table.jpg

It's hard to tell from the picture but my guess is that the drawer was hanging on dovetail slides along the sides.

[Kashka-Kat]

Had a "eureka" moment - By repositioning these brackets (rails) so that part of the wood piece goes underneath the drawer, its quite clear that the drawer rides on them, with the drawer front fitting nicely into the gap in the apron. Ive found a source of getting adovetail drawer box made - thinking also I would attach some narrow strips to the bottom of the drawer box for guides so that it stays straight and doesn't veer off course when pulling it in and out .... or is that overkill? Would this type of table have had any hardware or a pull on the drawer?

Originally, the top screwed directly into the apron for additional stability- no hardware to allow for wood movement. I think that's a big part of why the tabletop got so messed up. Is this going to be an issue anymore - since the wood is so old (possibly 100yrs) is it going to shrink anymore? Or should I futz around with the Figure 8's or some other wood tabletop attachment hardware?

Thx Al and all .... & happy hols to you and yours!

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[Kashka-Kat]

About those 1950 chairs - would they have been assembled with hide glue? How do you know what type of glue it is? One of the dowel chair leg parts is quite loose - hoping its hide glue so I can just squirt some in (since it sticks to itself) and clamp it.