Back to the glue pot

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garys
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Re: Back to the glue pot

Post by garys »

Your picture showing the manufacturer's tag shows a good view of the end grain of the wood. I'm sure no expert on wood, but that end grain looks a lot like chestnut to me. If it is chestnut, you have a true treasure there.
Hobbyman2
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Re: Back to the glue pot

Post by Hobbyman2 »

When I first seen the worm holes I thought it was chestnut , but I believe true American Chestnut went extinct earlier in the 1800's some 60 - 70 years earlier , If I recall Chestnut sapwood is light in color ,but chestnut lumber used was a much darker wood ? I could be wrong , butternut, often called white walnut, was still plenty full in this area in the mid 1800's. repairs have been made to the bad leg , the leg can now be re drilled and the replacement casters can be reinstalled , We managed to find a fresh set of identical period correct casters from a antique dealer , we are in the process of cleaning them up . Since I have no pictures of a actual table casters when the table was new I am in belief the metals were possibly rust blued . Rust bluing was very popular in that time period . the old hinges on the bottom of the table still need to be removed and cleaned . all the old screw holes are being plugged and will get re-drilled to except new screws , the new screws will also be blued to match the hinges and hardware .I will do some research on the end grains and see where it leads thanks for the tip.
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jsburger
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Re: Back to the glue pot

Post by jsburger »

Hobbyman2 wrote: Mon Mar 08, 2021 1:14 pm When I first seen the worm holes I thought it was chestnut , but I believe true American Chestnut went extinct earlier in the 1800's some 60 - 70 years earlier , If I recall Chestnut sapwood is light in color ,but chestnut lumber used was a much darker wood ? I could be wrong , butternut, often called white walnut, was still plenty full in this area in the mid 1800's. repairs have been made to the bad leg , the leg can now be re drilled and the replacement casters can be reinstalled , We managed to find a fresh set of identical period correct casters from a antique dealer , we are in the process of cleaning them up . Since I have no pictures of a actual table casters when the table was new I am in belief the metals were possibly rust blued . Rust bluing was very popular in that time period . the old hinges on the bottom of the table still need to be removed and cleaned . all the old screw holes are being plugged and will get re-drilled to except new screws , the new screws will also be blued to match the hinges and hardware .
My Grandfather and Uncle bought the H. F. Ball planing mill in Berlin, PA in the early 50's. There was a lumber shed probably about 200' long. It had 12 or 15 doors along the front and the lumber was put in end wise. The entire building was made of wormy Chestnut. I don't know when it was built. I would guess in the late 1800's. I certainly don't think it was built before 1850. When my Grandfather built his new house in the late 50's he removed all the Chestnut floor boards from the shed and made paneling and some furniture for the house.
John & Mary Burger
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john_001
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Re: Back to the glue pot

Post by john_001 »

It could be chestnut. I have two chests of drawers, both of chestnut, from around the turn of the 20th century. The blight didn't really take hold until the 1920's. My father worked on a USDA project to find resistant trees in the 1930's. I believe they're still looking.
Hobbyman2
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Re: Back to the glue pot

Post by Hobbyman2 »

I know from history that chestnut has oval circles in the end grain patterns . My original thoughts were ,, and I may be wrong ,, but I didn't remember the ovals being in a area as thick / wide in chestnut , however Butternut has circular patterns in the end grain not oval ? if the tree was that old its hard to tell how thick that layer would be .I believe one of the articles mentioned most chestnut trees were 2-300 years old when they were cut down . I did quick google search on end grains of both woods and I will say it does appear to be shaped as a chestnut pattern. chestnut end grain https://www.google.com/search?q=America ... BTfk7hGXmM
Butternut end grain https://www.google.com/search?q=Buttern ... QBttv-JXSM

This picture on the right shows tear out and stringy fingers in Butternut that also appear on one of the aprons , https://www.google.com/search?q=Buttern ... WYeUmV4YFM
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garys
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Re: Back to the glue pot

Post by garys »

I find that tearout on butternut to be quite common when I work with it. Even sharp carbide router bits seem to leave some of that stringy tearout that I end up sanding off to finish the wood. I've never worked with chestnut so I don't have any experience with it. If you see stringy tearout or "fuzz" as I call it on your project, that likely indicates it is butternut.
Hobbyman2
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Re: Back to the glue pot

Post by Hobbyman2 »

the table repairs have been rather slow , we had a break in the weather and changed to outdoor projects , the casters came from the antique dealer and are now cleaned of rust and are ready for degreasing and bluing ,, the old screws that were salvageable have been cleaned of rust and re-blued , one small snag I have ran into is finding proper period correct screws , with all of the old wood screws I have lost or tossed and never had a second thought I never imagined finding steel flat head wood screws the proper size and with proper angle on the heads would be a issue , it seems there are a lot of Philips screws of all sizes at the big box , but the selection of flat head screws are very slim and do not appear to be hardened steel all but one dowels for the leaves have been replaced .three of the 6 hinges have been cleaned and re-blued and remounted .
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- General George S. Patton (1885-1945)
Hobbyman2
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Re: Back to the glue pot

Post by Hobbyman2 »

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After wire brushing the screws and hinges they were chemically treated and re blued, one container has rust remover, one is a cleaning de-greasing solvent one is the bluing agent one is Kerosene and the last is a oil .
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Here is a picture of the grain showing chips and fuzzy tear out that makes us believe this is butternut .
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Last edited by Hobbyman2 on Fri Mar 19, 2021 3:42 am, edited 1 time in total.
Hobbyman2 Favorite Quote: "If a man does his best, what else is there?"
- General George S. Patton (1885-1945)
Hobbyman2
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Re: Back to the glue pot

Post by Hobbyman2 »

the sliding dovetails
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20210318_215912.jpg
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Hobbyman2 Favorite Quote: "If a man does his best, what else is there?"
- General George S. Patton (1885-1945)
Hobbyman2
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Re: Back to the glue pot

Post by Hobbyman2 »

The hinges are looking a lot better , All of the screw holes have been plugged and will get re-drilled ,2 of the boards in the table top had came apart over the years, after the needed adjustments to the edges were made, and the grunges / table scraps / cleaned out the boards were re-glued
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Hobbyman2 Favorite Quote: "If a man does his best, what else is there?"
- General George S. Patton (1885-1945)
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