Atticus Finch
Call Me a Cab
- Messages
- 2,718
- Location
- Coastal North Carolina, USA
About ten years ago, Jackie found an old Hoosier Cabinet on the porch of a local antique store. According to the dealer, it had been located in a local barn where it had been sitting for decades. Over the years, it had become very water damaged...its plywood had almost totally delaminated...and parts of its frame had been broken in a fall. To make matters even worse, powder post beetles had infested its base. Actually, it was a total wreck and should have been used for kindling.
But Jackie fell in love with it and it followed her home.
For almost a decade, I managed to avoid the restoration project that I knew was inevitably in my future. I guess I was hoping that if I waited long enough, the beetles would just finish it off. But this spring, Jackie was willing to accept no more excuses. I was going to restore her cabinet or else. So, about a month ago, I began resurecting what would become my Hoosier Cabinet From Hell.
I forgot to photo the silly thing before I began tearing it apart., but just know it was in pitiful shape. Here's the base portion after I had removed all that wasn't usable, which was most of it. I did manage to save the base doors and parts of the two drawers. You can also see where I had to replace parts of the frame that had been eaten by bugs.
The top portion (the hutch) was badly water damaged. As you can see, I saved almost none of the exterior plywood. Only the shelves and the base remained....and they had to be re-laminated by injecting glue between their layers with a hypodermic needle and then clamping them. Two of the doors were gone and had to be remade using the third door as a pattern. Also, the two back vertical frame parts had to be remade because they had been broken in a fall.
Here's Jackie sanding and sanding....and sanding.
Here's the finished cabinet. We just completed it tonight. One good thing is that the entire flour sifter assembly and related parts were all with the cabinet when Jackie found it. I was able to save it all. The drawers had to be mostly re-built. The base floor had been badly bug eaten, so I scrapped it. It is now heart pine that I milled and fitted into place. All of the hinges and other external hardware are new. The tambour is original, but I re-bound it with new tambour cloth.
Enjoy.
AF
But Jackie fell in love with it and it followed her home.
For almost a decade, I managed to avoid the restoration project that I knew was inevitably in my future. I guess I was hoping that if I waited long enough, the beetles would just finish it off. But this spring, Jackie was willing to accept no more excuses. I was going to restore her cabinet or else. So, about a month ago, I began resurecting what would become my Hoosier Cabinet From Hell.
I forgot to photo the silly thing before I began tearing it apart., but just know it was in pitiful shape. Here's the base portion after I had removed all that wasn't usable, which was most of it. I did manage to save the base doors and parts of the two drawers. You can also see where I had to replace parts of the frame that had been eaten by bugs.
The top portion (the hutch) was badly water damaged. As you can see, I saved almost none of the exterior plywood. Only the shelves and the base remained....and they had to be re-laminated by injecting glue between their layers with a hypodermic needle and then clamping them. Two of the doors were gone and had to be remade using the third door as a pattern. Also, the two back vertical frame parts had to be remade because they had been broken in a fall.
Here's Jackie sanding and sanding....and sanding.
Here's the finished cabinet. We just completed it tonight. One good thing is that the entire flour sifter assembly and related parts were all with the cabinet when Jackie found it. I was able to save it all. The drawers had to be mostly re-built. The base floor had been badly bug eaten, so I scrapped it. It is now heart pine that I milled and fitted into place. All of the hinges and other external hardware are new. The tambour is original, but I re-bound it with new tambour cloth.
Enjoy.
AF
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