free web page hit counter
Skip to content

Antique trunk restoration

Friday, October 24, 2008
Partially restored antique trunk

Partially restored antique trunk

About once every few months a customer will bring in an antique trunk that they want restored.  While the majority of older and antique trunk construction is wood, there are many other materials that we have to consider when restoring.  Leather strapping and accents, canvas, embossed tin and other metals require an attention to detail that we pride ourselves on.

Antique trunks are every bit as varied as wooden furniture: round-tops, flat-tops, dome-tops, salesman trunks, car trunks, jenny linds, stagecoach, etc.  Each had it’s own purpose and therefore had it’s own design and intricacies.

When they arrive in the shop, most trunks are structurally sound, but need the wood repaired and refinished, the straps replaced or repaired, and the metal replaced or repaired and then the whole thing touched-up and then clear-coated. (Continued)

Filed in Shop projects | Comments (1)

Don’t miss us at the 2008 Home Decorating & Remodeling Show

Thursday, October 16, 2008
Colorado convention center

Image via Wikipedia

We’re proud to be participating in the 2008 Denver Home Decorating & Remodeling Show this weekend in Denver.  It’s running October 17th - 19th at the Colorado Convention Center.

We’ll have examples of our refinishing, reupholstery and different types of wood finishes.  See a fantastic before and after example on an antique dresser and a cut-away view of our expert approach to reupholstery.

Swing down and visit us at booths 804 and 806, Jim Ackerman will be on hand to answer any questions.

We’d love to see you down there this weekend.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
Filed in Notes | Comments (0)

Care and Feeding of Your New Finish

Friday, October 3, 2008
Antique dresser

Antique dresser

Lacquer finishes have been used as protective coatings for over 70 years. They protect wood furniture against oil and water stains, scratches and abrasions, and premature aging. While nothing lasts forever, with proper maintenance your new finish will last a long time.

At Ackerman & Sons we use Magnamax catalyzed lacquer, by M. L. Campbell. Magnamax is a very dense finish, with molecules that bond to each other in such a way as to prevent penetration by water and chemicals for up to 2½ times longer than standard lacquer. It is one of the few lacquers that meets or exceeds the Kitchen and Bath Association standards for moisture resistance.

Rule number one: Less is better. Too many finishes are ruined by over applying polish, wax, and oil. Everyday dusting is best done with a slightly dampened rag. If grease or grime is present, a good quality polish should be used to clean and add luster to the finish. Polish should be used once a month. We recommend Guardsman polish. We do not recommend any oil.

Rule number two: No waxing. Polish can be used on your new finish at any time after delivery. Wax, on the other hand, cannot be. Wait a minimum of one month after delivery before waxing or using any product containing wax. Waxing too soon will prevent the finish from completely curing.

Rule number three: Don’t leave anything heavy, such as a lamp or center piece, on top of your newly finished furniture for the first 30 days. Your new finish is at 85% of its total strength as delivered, but will continue to cure and strengthen during that time. Feel free to use a table immediately after delivery, but clear the table afterwards. Remember, anything harder than your finish (Glass, ceramic, or metal) will scratch it, especially during the first month.

Rule number four: Plastic and rubber surfaces can outgas, etching into lacquer finishes. This is most likely with newer finishes, but sometimes happens with fully cured finishes as well. For this reason we recommend that telephones, televisions, radios, plastic place mats and plastic tablecloths, etc. be kept from long-term contact with any finish.

Rule number five: Enjoy your newly finished furniture!

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Filed in Advice | Comments (0)

Seth Thomas antique clock

Friday, September 26, 2008

Everyday, people bring their furniture in to the shop for repair or reupholstery and half of the time the pieces are basic or the damage is unremarkable. Today a nice couple brought in a small mantle clock in a cardboard box.  When we see the cardboard box slide out of the car, we know it’s going to be a bad one.

Seth Thomas Clock circa 1898

Seth Thomas Clock circa 1898

This turned out to be a Seth Thomas clock that belonged to the gentleman’s grandfather. The great thing about working with antiques is that there is a story behind each and every one. With this clock, his grandfather’s house had been caught in an electrical storm and was struck by lightning. The cloth-wrapped electrical wiring throughout the house caught fire and the house was quickly ungulfed in flames. This clock was carried out by hand and was the only piece of furniture saved from the fire.  Unfortunately, it was placed under a tree and since it was pouring rain, the clock was severely water-damaged.

The veneer has broken off of approximately 15% of the face, there is some major warping of the crown and there are missing areas along the sides.  The door and glass are in good shape, but the base is warped as well.

The movement worked up until a few years ago, but even back when it was a new clock, it would bind up and stick. The owner told us that he remembers his grandfather taking a rag dipped in kerosene and wadding it up inside in the corner of the base and the fumes would act as a lubricant and start the clock working again.

(Continued)

Filed in Shop projects | Comments (0)

DIY? This is for you!

Friday, September 19, 2008
Ancient Egyptian woodworking

Ancient Egyptian woodworking

If you’re the type of person who likes to tackle the unknown, then this post is for you.

We’ve added a new section to our blog called Ask Ackerman’s. It’s a chance for those of you who want to try to restore or refinish or reupholster to ask us specific questions about your project.

Most of what we do is an art form, not a science. But like any science, there are some basic and very important steps to take with any project.  If you are tackling any phase of a furniture restoration project and need specific help or a borad overview, we’d be glad to help.

Simply click here or in the menu to the right and fire those questions away.  You can expect an answer within a few days and after a while, we’ll be posting some of the questions we get and answers we give to create a search-able knowledge base for DIYers.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
Filed in Notes | Comments (0)

The Antiques Roadshow Problem

Friday, September 12, 2008
Tea table on Antiques Roadshow

Tea table on Antiques Roadshow

I love watching television. There I said it. From time to time I’ll catch “The Antiques Roadshow” on PBS. It’s great to see grandfather’s old, forgotten watch-fob turn out to be worth a million dollars.  It’s really fun to see people’s expressions and how they react to the news.  Of course, some guests on the show bring in a child’s writing desk from the 1880’s they know is worth a fortune and it turns out it’s a knock-off made in the 1980’s.

All-in-all, it’s a great show - there’s drama, surprise and emotion and its all real. The problem that I mention is that it has also skewed people’s idea of what an antique is and how to best care for it.

We all know the drill, the nice man brings in his tea table that’s been in his wife’s family since the 1920’s.  It’s hand-carved, the finish looks great for its age, and the piece is in overall great condition.  The appraiser goes through his deal and then tells the gentleman that his tea table is a fantastic piece of American furniture from the mid-18th century and it would probably be worth $500,000…

(Continued)

Filed in Opinion | Comments (0)

Old meets new

Friday, September 5, 2008
scrollwork detail

scrollwork detail

We’re so used to working with very old things, that it’s taken us a while to get into these ‘new-fangled’ ways to communicate with our customers and all people interested in Furniture. Well, here we are.

Our goal with this blog is to educate and inform the public about furniture. Plain and simple. We may choose something we have in the shop currently and discuss it’s origins, what challenges present themselves during our restoration process and how exactly we overcome them. We’ll talk about the way we do things (and have for the past 113 years) and new techniques we’ve come across in that time. We may talk about a certain piece, profile one of our craftsmen, we may just talk about the over-all refinishing/restoration business.

Most importantly, we’ll be trying to bring our love of furniture restoration to whoever finds the time to visit this page.

Welcome, and we hope you visit us again.

- Jim Ackerman, President

Filed in Notes | Comments (0)