Furniture move... the hard way

In order to move an antique chest of drawers from our attic, one flight down, to our spare bedroom, I had to take it apart... again!

It was not designed to come apart and this is the second time I've had to do it because of our tight stairs.

This time, when putting it back together, I made some minor design changes to make any future disassembly a bit easier. In the process I was able to make it even stronger.

The main repair work was not the reassembly but was fixing the drawer runners. In some places they had worn completely through the timber. It was not in any state to use on a daily basis.

The only thing I could think of to use was some form of filler. I had P38 epoxy car bodywork filler in the shed, so that's what I tried. Nothing tricky to the job. Mix up lots of it, fill the worn grooves, sand and when dry cover in a bit of floor varnish. The P38 is relatively soft, a bit like timber, so my hope is the hard varnish will help it to last longer. So far the drawers have run fairly easily.

After some sanding, a bit of stain and some clear varnish, the end result looks very nice in the bedroom.

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Repair a split belt

I had worn one belt so much that it split along the inner and outer layers of leather in two places. I hadn't worn it for ages because of that.

I had a few minutes yesterday and decided to try to repair it.

It has a cardboard inner layer, so I re-attached that first to one side and added a patch where some of it was missing. I then glued the other side to that.

I used Evostick contact adhesive as that seamed the most obvious glue to use.
Applied to each side then left for a couple of minutes until touch dry.

I used a roller to get it as flat as possible before clamping. It's instant adhesive but I left it for nearly a day before wearing the belt.

I needed to clean a little of the adhesive off the outer surfaces and from inside the holes. I just used a spike for the holes and rubbed the glue off with my fingers.

So far so good.

Repaired haberdashery cupboard

Following on from my post about starting to repair this cupboard, I have now finished the repair of the haberdashery cupboard that was formerly used in my shed.

The chipboard sides of the cupboard had been weakened where they had sat on the ground in the damp.

They had puffed out and crumbled along the bottom 4 inches. Most of the veneer on the outside was still intact but it had separated from the body of the chipboard on one side just along that lower 4 inch band.

The first job was to pull the outer edges back in alignment with the frame. I drilled and carved out a channel next to the biscuit joint and then glued and clamped the edges in to place. I put paper between the batten used to protect the cupboard from the clamp. The paper was to avoid the batten getting stuck to the outside of the cupboard.

The next task was to stabilise the edges. I rubbed off the worst of the loose chips and then coated the inside faces with lots of watered down PVA type white wood glue. 50:50 water and PVA plus a dash of dishwasher rinse aid as a surfactant to break the surface tension so it flows more easily.

I left it a few days to ensure it was thoroughly dry. The chipboard was then stable enough to glue a plank of timber on the inside of each edge to give it strength to stand on. As the sides were very uneven I used lots of 'No More Nails' from a mastic gun as the adhesive and filler.

Again that was left for a few days to go off.

I thought about cutting away the outside veneer and chipboard and insetting some timber but it was looking more stable than I expected and as this edge is barely seen I decided to carry on with stabilising the chipboard.

Lots more 50:50 water and white glue brushed as far in to the chipboard as possible and some neat glue under the veneer and in the worse gaps. I clamped that lot tightly in place with some battens, again with a layer of paper between the surface and the batten.

I used some clamps to pull the sides as close to level as I could.

Much to my surprise when I released the clamps a few days later the puffy bottoms had been held nearly flush.

One side needed some filling with Isopon P38 which once sanded I disguised by painting a black band along the bottom on both sides to match the black inset panel that it already had on the front and which I had cleaned up and repainted.

 

The back panel did not need any essential repairs but I gave it some white glue where the plywood was coming apart just to stop it getting worse. As I was doing that I found the timber along the back edge was crumbling. As that was out of sight I simply cut that back to good timber coated with my watered down glue mix and filled with Isopon P38.

I had filled a few holes in the sides which I now sanded before wax polishing.

Shelley and I carried it in to the study. Our house is not very big and the cupboard is taller than all of our doors! There was only one possible route, that was, in the back door, through the kitchen, a three point turn in the living room to align it with the door to the study and then straight across the hall in to the study.

Once in the study that room needed a complete re-arrange to have the haberdashery cupboard where it looked best and did not block everything else!

Last job was to clean up the glass on each drawer and fit the handles and label holders which I had previously sprayed gloss black.

I filled the drawers as I took them in to the study to make space to move in the room.

Another job I am pleased with.

Haberdashery cupboard repair

I've been using an old shop haberdashery drawer unit in my shed for a few years.

Unfortunately the occasional flood and general cold and damp during the winters are not doing it any good. I decided I either needed to sell it or move it in to the house before it deteriorates beyond a reasonable chance of repair.

The repair has gone reasonably well so far. I've started with the drawers. Each has been re-glued where joints appeared weak or were separating. Only a couple needed major surgery and only one needed to be completely taken apart and re-joined.

The handles are all rusting to various degrees. I did try sanding off the rust with the plan to lacquer them but the results were disappointing. I have painted them black instead.

I am not aiming for anything historically accurate. This furniture was common in shops. Made to look good from the front but of generally low cost construction. I want to end up with a piece of furniture that will be usable for many more years.

All the drawers are now together and I have waxed them so they have a nicer finish.

Some of the drawer bases may need to be replaced in the future. All the plywood felt flimsy plus some of the layers on some drawers had separated, probably due to damp. I have glued these layers back and they appear to be stable. Only time will tell how well the bases will hold.

The next job will be to repair the frame. The front is in good condition but the lowest edge of the old chipboard sides, where they have stood in the damp, are crumbling and will need some fixing and additional support.

Update:

See the finished repair