Assessment and Critique. Almost Done.

When redoing a piece of furniture there is always a step by step process: cleaning, stripping, sanding, staining, and finishing. Being lazy and really needing a desk to use, I kinda wanted to have a finished project in front of me STAT. Since cleaning left me with really beautiful results, I opted to skip stripping,  sanding, and re-staining. However there would be touch ups needed. The following post is a critical review of the desk. After evaluating the Pro's and Con's, figuring out what could be fixed and what would have to be lived with for the time being, I decided to do a little staining to touch up some parts, and then wax the piece up with paste wax.  With another trip to the hardware store to get wood glue ($7), red mahogany & dark walnut stain ($10), restore-a-finish ($6), paste wax ($12), shelf brackets ($2), and a pack of straight edge razors to clean the residue off of the glass doors ($2),  Ernest was ready to shine.


Pro's:
Grain Emphasis

Original Finish

(can you tell from the pic above that this is what it will look like completely finished?
The above shot came from right before the waxing)

Nothing but future work to do from this point on, next is the cons.



Con's:
Mixed wood from what i'm guessing was a previous repair or attempted refinishing

Right below the slant lid is a piece of pine wood. Why it would be there, I do not know.
Unless this was a repair job from a previous owner. 

The finish on the lower right hand front also came off way too easily. Going to have to touch up
both of these areas to make them darker. This should be easy and a quick fix.


Replacing Veneer

If you can tell form the wavy mess up there, the veneer is warped and moldy.
This is a bigger job than i can handle right now. However, it's on the writing surface.
While i figure out what to do with it next, i can just live with it.


Replacing the Missing piece 
Remember that little corner from the bottom shelf that was broken from the previous images?
Eventually i'm going to have to trace & cut a piece of wood, bore a hole in it to fit the peg, stain it and put it in place.
That seems far too complicated for right now, and it's small and not very noticeable. I can live with it.


Separation in the body of the piece

Now If I remember what Tom said, there's a process for this. One has to get a professional that puts in a tiny strip of wood to cover the gap. It's called, Splining, I believe he said. However, I would have to wait a year for the wood to adjust to this new environment.


Splitting in the back of the drawer
The bottom dropped out of the lower drawer. That was an easy repair with glue.

That's about it for Ernest. The next post shall show him in his refinished glory.