Antique Mirror Repair

This was a really beautiful antique mirror with beveled glass that I picked up at a Flea Market. I think I paid 10$ for it. The mirror was in perfect shape, but the frame had a few big chips in the curved veneer. I assume that this mirror is from around 1880, but it could be slightly older or newer. Definitely older than 1900.

For probably close to a year it's been patiently sitting and waiting to be repaired. I'm not even sure where I want to hang it yet, but since I've been doing a LOT of veneer patching on clocks lately, I decided to do the repair while I had fresh hide glue on hand.

As purchased:



All 4 corners had chips, but the real issues were with this one bottom corner. The other corners had very tiny chips (I didn't photograph them, they were only about 1/8" wide).

Because of how this corner was broken, I would either need to make two striped patches (which would be tricky and possibly ugly as a repair), or remove the entire corner section, and install a larger patch. This is what I did. With the wood veneer that I removed, I was able to patch all the other 3 corners, so those repairs ended up being virtually invisible.





Corner section removed. The mesh is something new to me. I'm not sure exactly what it was for, but it seems original and I left it there. Part of the veneer was loose past where I cut it, so hide glue was brushed/pushed under there.



The wood was a bit odd. It looks a lot like walnut, but I was fairly sure it was actually mahogany, so I used mahogany for the patch. The wood had to be pre-curved around a form (you just wet the veneer in hot water, clamp it around a curve that is tighter/smaller than what you need, and leave it to fully dry). Once it was glued down (using hide glue and painter's tape as clamps) the edges were trimmed, sanded, and the repairs were stained as needed.



The finish on the mirror was kind of dry and flaky, so I scrubbed down the finish lightly with steel wool and alcohol, and then I added a few thin coats of shellac over the repairs and then over the whole frame. This was then buffed down and wax polished with steel wool (#0000) and dark tinted wax.



The colour match on the patch is not a 100% perfect match because the old veneer was somewhat sun bleached. It blends in fairly well, and it's only a simple mirror, so not a museum piece.



All these techniques can be used to repair clock cases.

8 Day Rosewood New Haven Miniature Ogee - Restoration

The title is a bit of a mouthful, but this is a rather long-to-describe clock. It's a miniature ogee clock made by the New Haven Clock Company, and while most of these tend to be 30 hour duration, this one is an 8 day example. The case is nicely veneered in rosewood, and it's actually an "O.O.G" design, which simply means that it has a concave and convex moulding used for the door and edge band on the case (as opposed to flat).

This is a pretty new purchase (Nov 16 2016), and it's the most recent clock I've purchased. While it looked to be in great shape in the listing photos, there was a bit of damage to it (largely cosmetic), however, it arrived even more damaged. While in transit the movement tore loose, and I was very lucky that neither glass was broken. In addition to this, the door rattled apart, veneer was torn loose, as well as several of the dial blocks. The gong also got slightly mangled, and the dial was slightly warped.

Here are some blurry photos I took just as I was unwrapping the clock.







The movement and dial (as well as all the loose bits of wood and parts) were carefully removed from the case. The dial on this clock is especially lovely. I later gave it a very gentle cleaning to remove some of the dirt.







The door would not close.



Two damaged corners:



Damaged lower right corner.



This spot I could see in the listing photos. It almost looks like a later repair that was done in mahogany rather than rosewood. Some of the banding around the outside edge looks like it could be either wood. I ended up replacing this entire section of veneer.



Top right corner of the door. This is an old repair. I thought of re-repairing it, but ultimately I left it alone and glued it back in place.



The door catch was NOT original, and it was a very poor replacement.



Loose door frame (lower left corner) with a tiny chip.



This was by far the worst of the damage, because it's not something that can be fixed. All these scratches to the backboard were from the movement that had torn free and bounced around. The only way to remove the marks would be to sand or scrape the backboard, and this would ruin the original surface.





Some of the debris.



So now what? Well, it looks rather bad, but it's all fixable. The warped sections of the dial were fixed with gentle finger pressure. The gong was reset fairly easily, and that largely just leaves woodworking problems. A bunch of small pieces were still present (like the broken top left corner of the door), and the rest could be patched.

Here is that wide section of flaky mahogany veneer. I fixed this area with some salvaged rosewood veneer which was already curved. This came from a completely destroyed donor case. For repairs like this, where the clock case is still in good shape, and the original finish is still good, I will do all the repairs and patches without refinishing the case. I simply sand a bit past the new repairs, and then I blend everything in. One of the best parts about antiques finished with shellac is that the new will melt and blend into the old. The only time this doesn't work well is if the existing finish has crackled or alligatored.



Top corner of the door. This was sanded down to level it out a bit better.



Bottom corner of the door. There are sanding marks on a fairly wide spot because part of the edge also broke and had to be glued. That long scratch was also largely buffed and polished out.



Bottom right corner:



All of the screw holes on this clock needed repairs. I decided to plug and patch all the dial holes using pine slivers (not toothpicks) and putty. The top corner block also had a big chunk of wood broken off.



The lower movement mounting block was in pieces. It had broken in 3, but it also had a diagonal break in it, and 2 added nails through it, which I removed.





It had to be clamped in two sessions.



The last things to do were to apply some shellac to the repairs, and then buff the finish and wax polish. Once that was done, I tackled the movement.

The original springs were in terrible shape. Not only were they set (where they don't open up much once they are free/out of the movement), they were also warped and crooked (which isn't good either). I decided to install a new pair of springs. I don't know why, but one of my two new springs opened up about twice as much as the other. I don't replace springs very often, but maybe someone can let me know if this is normal. Both these springs are new, and they are from the same manufacturer, and they were bought at the same time. Tiles are 12" x 12".



All the clock parts after cleaning:



The movement was in fairly good condition, but I did have to dress-up a few pivots on the lathe, and I installed a pair of bushing to the escape wheel.

After re-assembly and during testing:



Here you can see the repaired bottom mounting block. I also had to plug and re-drill all the mounting holes in the backboard.



This is the best photo (out of about a half dozen) that shows the area of the banding that I replaced. I did get a tiny bit of a chip in there, but it matches the overall finish and condition of the clock. I don't remember if I used any stain on this repair. If I did, it was a very light brown, followed by shellac (maybe 5 thin coats?)



Here is the finished clock. It was photographed in late afternoon sun, so the veneer looks a lot lighter and brighter than normal.







I am not familiar with this tablet. I have seen thousands of tablets, and I know a lot of the patterns from memory, but this is not one that I remember seeing. It doesn't seem to have a title, and if it did, that area has flaked away. If anyone has any information about it, or has a photo of another one like it, please let me know.

Note: I was able to find and fit a spare antique door catch, which I had in my spare parts. It is especially well suited to this clock because this door catch is a slightly smaller size than usual.





Here is the clock just slightly ahead of a standard ogee clock (the E.N. Welch which you can see here: http://jcclocks.blogspot.ca/2016/05/e-n-welch-ogee-clock-restoration.html). The standard ogee clock measures 26" x 15.5", and the miniature measures 18 1/8" x 11.5". The dial has a 5" chapter ring.

Highly Unusual Vienna Clock - Part 2

As you may have noticed in Part 1, the clock was in somewhat shabby condition, with a large chunk of the crown broken off (and missing) in the top left, as well as some breaks to the bottom bracket and a few veneer issues.



Other missing pieces include all the finials (x5) and two top corner blocks (there were square shadows to each side of the centre crest).

The hardest part to replicate was the upper crown moulding piece, but I was able to get a close-enough shape with a few passes of a cove router bit and some saw cuts. The rest was careful sanding. For the bottom moulding, I chose to replace it with a single rectangular piece, rather than rebuild it in 3 sections like it was.



The veneer on the bottom bracket had some damage to both sides. Sadly my camera has been having a hard time lately (it needs to be replaced), so I did not get many good photos of the repairs. This was the worst side. Most of the back edge was badly chipped, so I replaced a full strip. This was difficult to cut and glue. I had to pre-bend the veneer around two forms to shape it into an "S" before I could glue it. The large chip at the top was just puttied. A veneer repair there would have been difficult and unsightly. It was either putty, or remove another inch-wide strip of veneer down the length of the bracket. This is so low on the clock that the repair isn't that visible.





This was followed by a bit more sanding, some dark stain, and a bit of diluted paint to blend the harsh line. I used orange shellac to varnish the area and blend it into the rest of the original shellac. None of the photos turned out so I may try to take new ones later.

After more touch-ups, small chip repairs, a bit of black paint and shellac, this is the finished case:





The clock still has the original old wavy glass with several imperfections.



The clock originally had wall stabilizers, but they were missing, so I installed a sew set. The finials are still being planned/chosen and they'll be shown in Part 3 once they're installed.







For the two little top blocks, I had to make an educated guess as to what they should look like. As I mentioned earlier, there were two square shadows, and a faint circle outline in the centre of the squares indicating finials. I made the blocks from pine and veneered them in some salvaged antique walnut veneer. The ebonized tops were made to match the bottom bracket detail.





You can sort of see the typical German/Vienna case construction detail of the "lock joint" at each corner of the main box.



All it needs now are the finials.