A Mans gorra do what he's told to do

Timbuck

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 10, 2009
Messages
6,606
Reaction score
1,833
Location
Stockton on Tees..North East UK.
Mrs Timbuck bought this magnificent "Victorian tilting round table" solid Cuban mahogany......I needs restoring as the seams have split and there are a few other things that need sorting out on it as bad repair work done on it over the years have left traces of all sorts of adhesives on it including epoxy....To cut a long story short, I told her that there is enough material there to make a dozen Sopranos or at least 5 Guitars..But! No! She says I have bought this for the house and you are going to fix it for me :( So now it's in bits being cleaned up and the hide glue pot is on the boil...Shame tho ;)
 
Last edited:
Furniture is really just a form of wood storage designed to trick non-luthiers into taking good care of it until we need it.
 
Under cover of night you could remove that top and replace it with a chipboard one. Splash some dark mahogany stain on it. Let it dry for 10 minutes and use a big car sponge to pad on some quick drying polyurethane. Using a ruler and stanley knife score a couple of lines in it. Fill these with a bit of black ink to simulate the cracks.
She'll never know the difference. I promise you.
 
Furniture is really just a form of wood storage designed to trick non-luthiers into taking good care of it until we need it.

Perfect DennisK. I remember all those huge, ugly, Edwardian wardrobes that used to fill student rented accommodation back in the 80's. One of those would give you enough material for a whole orchestra of ukulele's.
Probably in a skip or on a bonfire long ago
 
Perfect DennisK. I remember all those huge, ugly, Edwardian wardrobes that used to fill student rented accommodation back in the 80's. One of those would give you enough material for a whole orchestra of ukulele's.
Probably in a skip or on a bonfire long ago

Most of them are snares and delusions - mahogany veneer on a pine carcass. I keep looking out for solid mahogany, but never find any. If I do, Sod's Law says it will be all flat sawn.
 
Stripped the top down last night and cleaned up the joints..Got out the big clamping gear today, hide glue on the edges and made a start..it's a lot more diffcult than joining Tenor tops.....I think I'll do a bit of purfling and inlay on it as well...Maybe not! ;)
 
I'm sure she wouldn't notice if you took a little wood for ukuleles.

"Yes dear, it was only a 2' diameter table when you bought it"
 
Stripped the top down last night and cleaned up the joints..Got out the big clamping gear today, hide glue on the edges and made a start..it's a lot more diffcult than joining Tenor tops.....I think I'll do a bit of purfling and inlay on it as well...Maybe not! ;)

Which end does the neck attach??
 
The legs are fitted to the centre columm with some nice dovetail work, those men were really skilled in those days .. but I think this one was a bit hungover when he did this one ;)
 
Gluing and repairs done ...So I handed it back to the French Polishing department. All solid bookmatched Mahogany (No Veneer here) would have made some great ukes ..Maybe one day :rolleyes:
SANDING

SHELLAC STARTED

ALMOST DONE
 
Something I love about restoring furniture: I find it more carefree than restoring musical instruments. It's also rewarding to bring something back to life. A very pretty job and thanks for sharing.

As a complete aside, from a modern perspective, I find the feet and legs very hard to look at....even though there are good reasons for all the design elements. The Bauhaus ideology of my generation is hard to shake...while I want form to follow function as it does here, I want it to do so with greater simplicity and with less decoration.
 
Nice work. It may not be as old as you may think. Could be the wood was all processed in a third world workshop. Hack and stack. Put a nice top on it.
Bamm. Furniture.
 
Nice work. It may not be as old as you may think. Could be the wood was all processed in a third world workshop. Hack and stack. Put a nice top on it.
Bamm. Furniture.

And Bob's your Uncle . Cut it up .
 
It's been about a month since I finished this project...And it is now fully installed in the Timms household as a fixture and just to prove I didn't turn it into ukulelia products here is a pic :D
 
Now you can turn it into ukes Ken.
You will have that pile of necks needing bodies soon!
h
 
To: Ken

From: Management

Re: Building Ukueles

Regarding you motivation: it has come to our attentions that your motivation is flagging. This is not acceptable. Unless your output improves, we may be forced to send in the people with whips.

Yours sincerely,

Management
 
Top Bottom