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After reducing the volume of the original half-mortise using two strips of wood and addressing the crack in the shallow recess of the catch plate (read part two of the story here), I decided to [...]

After fine-tuning the quirks with the new replacement lock and its brass catch plate, I turned my attention to the cedar hope chest’s half-mortise. I measured and compared the existing depth and [...]

Last winter, a friend gifted me an old cedar hope chest. The piece was made by her late father-in-law, an amateur woodworker. Since she and her husband were preparing to sell their home and move [...]

Repair, strip and refinish to restore old pieces. Refinishing is a topic worthy of an entire book. In fact, restoring furniture includes all of woodworking and finishing because all skills may be [...]

After completing the reconstruction of the main broken molding piece, I glued the molding back onto its panel and began restoring the adjacent corner that was also damaged and required repair. [...]

After completing step (F), I used a gouge to hollow out the cove portion of the molding. I selected a gouge with a sweep that matched the cove radius and carefully shaved the wood in the [...]

Read part 1 After allowing the glue to set, I carefully removed the clamped molding from the guitar maker’s vise. At this point, I removed excess wood from the glued-up block using a bandsaw to [...]

A few months ago, I restored a tall case of drawers in green. While the piece was not old, antique, or of substantial emotional value, it was still quite practical as it was tall and had several [...]

Learn how to restore your damaged furniture finishes with these practical tips and techniques. Over time, furniture finishes can become dull or develop various marks and blemishes. This guide [...]

Thoughtful finishing and new leaves prepare this classic for the next 100 years. This old table looks like a prime candidate for refinishing. Scrub off the old finish, sand out all the dings and [...]

As you recall, a few months ago, I wrote about a beautiful chair made of solid mahogany that we bought and found out that it was sadly damaged during shipping. The vendor sent us a replacement, [...]

If you recall, a few weeks ago, I wrote about the unexpected repair job I performed on one of our newly bought solid mahogany chairs (read parts one and two here). What I didn’t expect is that I [...]