Last I left off, the sideboard had its center drawer with a huge piece of wood missing from it, and I didn't have a great idea how to fix it. What I came up with was sawing up pieces of veneer from an unruly grained 4 inch wide piece of cherry and then using that to fill the gap. Clearly I was tired, since I routed out the recess for the patch first, and then cut the patch to fit.
Never do this. It's much easier to cut the patch, scribe the recess around the patch, and then route the recess. You can do it the opposite way, but then you have to mess around with tracing paper and attaching it to the patch. It's a pain.
It doesn't fill the broken wood exactly, but it's enough to prevent your eye constantly returning to that one spot.
Finishing this drawer front gave me the most grief. I french polished the drawers, but for this one I held off on finishing it until I got the patch in place. The heat during the week was intense, and actually caused the shellac to dry too quickly on this drawer front to prevent the oil used in lubricating the pad to rise to the top of the finish. What happened instead is that it coalesced into large droplets that formed scabs and numerous bumps on the finish. After discovering this, I let the drawer sit for another week, in case the oil was still trapped in the finish and would continue moving around, and then used a card scraper to flatten the surface.
With the flat surface, I put on two coats of garnet shellac and allowed them to fully dry for a few days before scraping the surface flat again, and rubbing the finish out.
I put an antique finished (satin-like) federal style pulls on the drawers and they're resting comfortably in the case. All to do right now is to finish the sideboard case and to attach the top.
Never do this. It's much easier to cut the patch, scribe the recess around the patch, and then route the recess. You can do it the opposite way, but then you have to mess around with tracing paper and attaching it to the patch. It's a pain.
It doesn't fill the broken wood exactly, but it's enough to prevent your eye constantly returning to that one spot.
Finishing this drawer front gave me the most grief. I french polished the drawers, but for this one I held off on finishing it until I got the patch in place. The heat during the week was intense, and actually caused the shellac to dry too quickly on this drawer front to prevent the oil used in lubricating the pad to rise to the top of the finish. What happened instead is that it coalesced into large droplets that formed scabs and numerous bumps on the finish. After discovering this, I let the drawer sit for another week, in case the oil was still trapped in the finish and would continue moving around, and then used a card scraper to flatten the surface.
With the flat surface, I put on two coats of garnet shellac and allowed them to fully dry for a few days before scraping the surface flat again, and rubbing the finish out.
I put an antique finished (satin-like) federal style pulls on the drawers and they're resting comfortably in the case. All to do right now is to finish the sideboard case and to attach the top.
