Bringing beauty & usefulness back to these old Antique Lawyer Bookcases
THIS IS WHAT I DO
Depending on how the finish is, depends on how I restore the wood.
A..if all the sections were originally sold together,have the same coloring & can be saved.I restored that Original finish.
B..if all the sections were originally sold together,have the same coloring but has a bad finish or has finish missing here an there, I take it down to the wood & use the color dye you selected, then shellac .( if the wood is just re-stained & not color dyed the wood will have a lighter color & all the wood parts will have variants in the wood color & not look proper)
C..if any of the sections were Not originally sold together & sections were added which have several shades of coloring on the side panels,I then remove all finish down to bare wood & put a wood dye color in all the wood,then shellac. That is how they originally put the finish on wood when bookcases were made. ( different colors of dye available see color Page click Here.)
Of course there are many steps of sanding,using steel wool,staining,color dye & using shellack that goes into the process I didn’t expand on.
See pictures below with bookcase completely apart .I remove all finish or paint & glue.( except one's that fit category A above ) I find that most all bookcases have loose joints & glue blocks missing in the base & top cap ( if missing I make them ). I then proceed to repair splits,broken or bad parts.Most backs & bottoms are wavy & coming apart, so I also see if I can re-glue all the splits & separations.If I cannot repair the panels I replace with another old one that’s in better shape or make new ones. If the side panels are split, I re-glue them. If any doors have loose joints or broken pieces I take them apart & fix .I also fill in nail & screw holes that should not be there.Then with the hardware ,if parts are missing I find replacements .I Make new wood strips for window glass & clean the glass.If any nails where missing on the backs,bottoms or top rails, I put those in. Clean all the metal side bands & re-shellac them.
Now that all the parts have been repaired & refinished I reassemble the bookcase using the Org nails.
I clamp all joints for a least a day or two to set. After the bookcase is all together I buff out the finish using # 0000 steel wool to make a very smooth finish & then put a oil base top coat.I hand polish the top coat which then gives a Satin sheen Finish.I install all the hardware & side bands , make sure they work properly & then let the bookcase set for about a week to dry.
I'm sure I left out a few steps along the way, but now you can see the difference between just putting a fresh coat of stain on a bookcase verses a Complete Restoring & fixing all the components of the bookcase .The bookcase is now ready for the future generations to enjoy...