Refinishing a Classic Lane Acclaim Coffee Table

As many of you know, were really big fans of modernism, especially mid-century modernism and were looking to replace our current furnishings with vintage designs from the 40s, 50s and 60s. Several months ago Cindis mom offered us her Platner designed coffee table - we had given her our 1920s reed furniture shortly after she moved to Atlanta - this was an inheritance Cindi had gotten from a relative, which she went to the expense of refinishing along with newly re-upholstered cushions. When we moved into the house on Lori Lane the furniture proved too small in scale for the jumbo-sized sunk-in living room. Heres an images I took around 2004:

Reed Couch and Chairs

The sofa and two chairs above were given to Cindis mom after living in the den near the fireplace.

Quarter-sawn oak Craftsman Furniture from Restoration Hardware

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We were able to obtain a nice set of Arts and Crafts (AKA Craftsman) furniture, similar to the designs of Stickley, that was better suited to the size of the room. At that time we hadnt yet gotten the bug to go all Mid-Century Modern, so the furnishings more than sufficed for day-to-day living. You can see the reed sofa in the background.

So recently I started obtaining some projects to replace the Craftsman furniture - so far, three Jens Risom Lounge chairs, two Jens Risom side chairs, a nice square Knoll table and most recently, a Jens Risom sofa. That last was the final piece we needed to basically replace what we had with a similar configuration.  Heres an image of the Platner coffee table:

 So I bet youre asking why Im going through all this? The Platner table came down from New York with Cindis mom - and it looked really odd with the reed furniture - the high-tech chrome wires didnt work with the reeds in the couch and chairs. Since we were going all modern, we were offered the table - the only problem - she needed something that could replace it. After looking for a bit, we figured out that what she needed was something more in the same scale and a bit retro - ideally of wood or something with the same brown tones. We found a structurally sound Lane Acclaim table - a bit beat up, with water and mineralization rings on top and a hammered finish (it was also quite dirty), but we paid little enough for it that it was worth getting as a potential replacement after a bit of TLC.

The things that sold me on the table: 1. It was all solid wood construction - even the flat table top was wood planks edge-jointed with the interesting walnut and oak veneers on top. 2. No racking or twisting to the legs - the end mortises into the legs and underlying supports made for a well-made, strong table. 3. Nothing in the finish looked like too large a task to re-do. 4. The veneers were all laying flat so I didnt have to worry about loosening the veneer and getting it to re-adhere (this last one fooled me a bit as Ill explain). 5. I grew up with Lane Acclaim (we had a rectangular coffee table and two end-tables) so I just like the design.

Unfortunately I wasnt very diligent in taking photos, so I dont have any of the table before I started. I literally thought this was going to be a "quick-and-dirty" refinish job so I got it into the shop and first gave it a good cleaning. I discovered that the lacquer finish had just about had it so first I tried lacquer thinner to strip it off, and eventually just carefully sanded it (there were dark spots embedded into the veneers that wouldnt clean up - fortunately almost all of it was removed with light sanding). This is the result:

A couple of things to note: 1. look at the near edge - see the spalting? That was all stained dark enough so you didnt see it before I stripped off the original finish. 2. Even being extremely careful, I managed to sand through the veneer in one corner (its the one to the right - unfortunately out of frame) to the poplar beneath. I figured that once I stained and coated the top it wouldnt be noticeable, and for once I was right. You dont see it unless its pointed out to you.

I did a few searches online to figure out what stain to apply - theres a Min-Wax that I found suggested on one bloggers post (pdx picker) with some photos and it seemed reasonable - the stain used was Minwax Early American. Remember, I wasnt looking for perfection here, just something I could quickly work out and deliver (note the date in the photo above is 19? Thats 2012.08.19. I did want to do a reasonable restoration with colors approximating the original, along with a lacquer finish (what was originally applied).

I figured I could apply a stain and go directly into a lacquer and be done. Theres only one problem - I dont like Min-Wax. Oh, sure its a good product, but the problem I have with it is that it already has a varnish added to it - which makes it impossible to adjust if your tint isnt quite right. I know that there are alternative ways to adjust, but doing airbrushed coats layered between sealers didnt fit into my "quick-and-dirty" idea. I did manage to find a finish that approximated what I was looking for - Varathane American Walnut found at the Home Depot. Now in retrospect, theres a bit more red and less yellow in this stain so its not quite right, but close enough for me.

Heres the table with stain applied:

One thing I noticed in some of the other Lane Acclaim refinsh photos available online - for some reason people are selecting finishes that dont bring the color of the oak down into the browns - the contrast to me is quite disturbing. In my case, except for the bit of red tint this is very close to the color of the legs.

I next appled a couple of wash coats of shellac to seal things up. This also brought a little yellow back into the mix and neutralized the red a bit:

After a bit of block-sanding to get everything flat, I applied the lacquer. Now this is where I totally hosed everything. I had always applied lacquer in the past using a sprayer, or in a pinch, a rattle can - but in my rush to get this thing done I decided to apply it via brush. The problem here is that I dont own a good varnish brush - you want something that holds the varnish and lays down a very even coat with minimal brush marks - any ridging that happens will need to be sanded down. After two coats I had something that looked obscene and it took quite a bit of sanding to get it looking right. Of course there were some imperfections but I thought, OK Ill just apply some wax. Another mistake - the wax made every imperfection glow-in-the-dark and applied a glossy sheen that wasnt appropriate to the piece. I was going to strip off the wax but ran out of time. In desperation I just hit the whole thing with some 000 steel wool and got the finish back to something close to what I was looking for. As a last step I cleaned up the legs and applied a light coat of wax with very light buffing - that brought up the old finish to the same luster as the new.

Here are some photos of the finished table before being loaded into the back of the Highlander, right after hitting it with steel wool (that was Thursday night 2012.10.04):

Im not quite sure how it ended up being a 6 week project - I really thought I could get it done in a weekend. Lessons learned here: 1. Im too much of a perfectionist to do any "quick and dirty" projects when it comes to refinishing. 2. Invest in the time to get the stain right and dont settle for "close" 3. Always, always apply lacquer using the sprayer - for the time it took me to block everything out I could have purchased a whole case of rattle can lacquer. 4. Know youre still taking a risk in the veneer even if the pieces are flat (I actually think that the corner where I sanded through - you can see it in the last photo, the left corner closest to you - was thin to begin with, probably from the Lane factory.

Thats my story. Hope you enjoyed it and learn from my mistakes. John

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Mortises Mahogany The Sun

Had a fun time in the shop today as I dove into the Adirondack Chair Guild Build. I started by milling up the front legs in preparation for the joinery and I immediately noticed some issues with the color of my 8/4 stock, but we’ll get to that in a moment. Once the legs were milled to length, width and thickness, it was time to cut the mortises. As is always the case in the Guild, I try to show multiple ways to do things. So I cut one set of mortises using a router, and another set using the hollow chisel mortiser. Which do I prefer? Good question Marc! The router method is a smidgen faster and results in mortises with nice smooth walls. With the sweet dust collection of my OF1400, the work is rather clean too. The hollow chisel mortiser is a bit slower, a little messier and the mortise walls aren’t quite as smooth. But it has the advantage of providing perfectly square mortises and built-in stops. So once everything is set up, I could literally bring a monkey into the shop to pull the handles for me. If you know any monkeys looking for work, please send them my way.

Now, about that mahogany color issue. Maybe its just my supplier, but the mahogany I have access to can be incredibly varied from board to board and purchase to purchase. This is not the first time I have been surprised to confront a board that is much denser and even looks significantly different than the rest of my material. Trouble is, this isn’t obvious in the rough stock (pictured left). As you can see, there isn’t much of a discernable difference between these two boards. But once milled the true colors really show (pictured right). The 8/4 stock is not only darker, but much denser. In fact, my first clue was during the jointing when I experienced quite a bit more chatter as I passed the board over the blades. So the real question I have to ask myself is, “Should I use this stuff in my project???” Obviously I don’t want the front legs look different than the rest of the piece, but the possibility certainly exists that natural aging would bring these boards into the same color family. Thankfully, the Arizona sun is quite powerful!

I decided to conduct a quick test using three test pieces: a 4/4 board that represents most of the wood in the project, a single piece from the dark stock in question, and my backup stock that I stole from the Bell Forest kit that contains Fiji-grown Mahogany. I carefully placed the boards outside on my trusty “wood-aging boulder”. You DO have one of these don’t you?!?! After about five hours of unrelenting desert UV rays, the boards already started to darken. The results were actually enough for me to make a judgement call. The dark stuff was just too dark and I didn’t want to take the risk of this turning into a long-term eyesore. The Fiji Mahogany, on the other hand, looks perfect. And just in case you don’t believe the wood could change color in that period of time, the third picture shows you the tan lines. Hot! So it looks like I’m using the backup stock for my legs.

All in all, not a bad day. I’ll be back in the shop tomorrow continuing work on the legs and broadcasting live on the Live Page. Next up, adding a short tenon to the top of each leg and the Greene & Greene indent detail to the bottoms.

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Adjustable Collapsible Stackable Packable Lights

June 23rd, 2011 in blogs         2 users recommend $(document).ready(function() {$("a.popit").fancybox();});

Adjustable height lights.

Photo: John Tetreault

Last year my wife wanted a grow light to start her seedlings. Ideally it would be adjustable to keep the light close to the seedlings as they grow. This prevents the plants from getting "leggy" she said. 

I first bought the lights so I could design the stands around them. They happen to be GE 22 inch under cabinet fluorescent lights from the local big box store. The bulbs that came with them were 15 watts I think, but you could switch those out for special gardening bulbs if you wish.

I used small pieces of mahogany and redwood for the stands, which are both relatively water-friendly woods. The vertical pieces have three square mortises in each to allow for different heights of the horizontal pieces that hold the lights. The horizontal pieces have through tenons on each end and a square peg holds them in place. A single dovetail at the bottom of the vertical piece locks into the base.

Each year, my wife expands the garden and Ive been adding more light stands. It turns out they stack rather nicely, all in a single box up in the attic, until the following spring.

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Not so fine woodworking

June 2nd, 2011 in blogs 
This small three drawer dresser made from pine and manufactured in Brazil sat in storage unfinished for several years.  Some sanding and a couple coats of paint makes for a quick piece of furniture for the babys room.
Photo: Kelly J. Dunton
I suspect that all us “woodworkers” get requests for projects that are less than fine from time to time.
I got such a project through an inheritance of sorts.  While moving, again, my other half retrieved out of storage, a small pine three-drawer side table dresser.  Now this is a solid wood production piece that had no finish whatsoever applied to it.  The drawers and sides are screwed together and the drawer runners are nailed in position. The top and feet were water stained from damp storage in a New England basement. Spiders had taken up residence inside this small piece of furniture.  It was less than desirable from my "holier than though" fine woodworking perspective.  Secretly I was wishing to toss it into the garbage.
With the addition of a daughter to our family came the need for more storage.  Funny how much room such a small person needs for her tiny things. So, over the Memorial day weekend while cleaning the garage and making room for a little "shop space," I needed to get the little pine dresser out of my way.  I decided to fix it up since throwing it out was really out of the question. At first I wanted to give it a good Fine Woodworking finish.  I started to clean it and eventually I had the top off and was handplaning the surface smooth. I had to clamp the top flat to get the plane to remove material evenly.  What a nightmare.  This finally led to primer and paint after a quick “go-ahead, sounds good to me.”  In the end, I finished the interior surfaces with shellac and the top first with shellac and then water based polyurethane.  Several hours of sanding and painting and I’ve secured just that much more room in my little "shop." Oh, and storage for the baby’s things…

posted in: blogs, pine, chest of drawers, kids Furniture, painted fruniture

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