Auction pity bid
#11
My wife bought this last year with a $3 pity bid. This is after an initial cleaning with alcohol.

It is a Wilhem Furniture Company 5045 dated 1/22. I thought it was interesting in that I had not seen a gate legged table that could take leaves. Note, they are missing. As well as some bracing spindles and a foot. Although I didn't own a lath, we got the parts made, then Christmas came and I have one now.

Purchased some black walnut, and leaf pins. Got to work with 3,4,5,and 8 planes. A track saw to even the edges. Stained with Minwax Dark Walnut stain, four coats of Zinser's Shellac cut in half, then steel wool and Howard's bees wax/orange oil.

The surface isn't perfect, because I failed to ensure grain ran uniformly amongst the leaves. Also the old table had reversing grain. But what the heck its going to my daughters Antique booth for a new home.

The intent of the project was to learn a few things, particularly finishing and hand tool use. I was really concerned with the sap wood on the top and the new walnut for the leaves. But I guess the dark walnut minwax worked out OK. Momma is pretty pleased with the way it turned out, and to tell the truth so am I; so I thought I'd share.
Train to be miserable...
that way when the real misery starts you won't notice.
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#12
Very nice job, took a bit of work but it was worth it.
Credo Elvem ipsum etiam vivere
Non impediti ratione cogitationis
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#13
That's outstanding; an amazing transformation. Truly a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

John
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#14
A really nice old gateleg. You did it proud
Worst thing they can do is cook ya and eat ya

GW
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#15
Yep, nice job, indeed!

"One should respect public opinion insofar as is necessary to avoid starvation and keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyrany, and is likely to interfere with happiness in all kinds of ways."
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#16
Nice save!
Steve S.
------------------------------------------------------
Tradition cannot be inherited, and if you want it you must obtain it by great labour.
- T. S. Eliot

Tutorials and Build-Alongs at The Literary Workshop
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#17
Great save! I can relate. Many years ago, my wife stoppped at a roadside display of carnival glass a woman was selling in the Kentucky hinterlands. The woman was anxious to show here glassware, but my wife was interested in the table the glass was displayed on. After a brief negotiation, the woman unloaded the table and sold it to my wife for $6.00. It was pretty rough with lots of stains, like yours, and a burned place where someone had set a very hot pot on it. I cleaned it up some and put a little finish on it and it has been our breakfast room table for over 40 years. New visitors always comment on it.



Hank
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#18
Another great save, Hank. $6 forty years ago was worth a bit more than today, but it was still a heck of a deal, and it sure looks great in that spot. Your wife must have had a good sized vehicle to get that table home, or did she come home looking like the Beverly Hillbillies with the table strapped on top of the car?

John
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#19
$3? I'll make you a deal and give you double for it.

Great job!
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#20
Hank,

Nice job and great deal on a working member of your furniture family!

Cian,
You must be cut from the same cloth as the rest of us pity dealers.
Train to be miserable...
that way when the real misery starts you won't notice.
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