What a past mistake looks like
Some of the hardest jobs are pieces somebody has already worked on. A crack closed with the wrong glue and a filler that does not match. A finish laid over the old finish until the carving disappears. A case sanded so thin that the figure in the wood is gone. Todd McCauslin brought David a clock case more than 225 years old in tiger maple, and wrote that "Another local guy did a bum job on a crack repair and a previous owner had a lousy refinish job years ago, otherwise, we would not have touched it". That is the kind of piece that comes to the bench at 37 West George Street.
Antiques also fail the ordinary way. A cedar chest gets scuffed and dull, a Victrola cabinet loses its finish, an icebox has its hardware gone dark, a piano case picks up water rings. What they share is that the damage is usually in the finish and the earlier repairs, not in the piece itself, and that is the part that can be undone.
Conservative, on purpose
The rule on old pieces is to take off as little as the piece allows. Original wood stays. Original brass stays. Carving, turnings and fretwork are cleaned instead of recut. A new part is made only when an old one is truly gone, in matching wood, and fitted so it reads as part of the piece.
Where a bad past repair is in the way, it gets undone carefully and done right. A crack is opened, cleaned and reglued, a mismatched fill is replaced with matching wood, and the finish is rebuilt to suit the age of the piece instead of to make it look new. The aim is a clock, a piano case or a chest that looks like itself again, not a showroom copy.
Mary Stonesifer put the shop's approach simply about her 1948 Lanes Cedar Chest: David "was very personable and assuring that I will be happy with the refinishing of my 1948 Lanes Cedar Chest". Talking a piece through before it ever comes in is part of the job.
What to bring and how drop-off works
Bring the piece, or send a photo first. Call (410) 857-9353, or David's cell at (410) 259-7693, and tell him what it is and what is wrong with it, including any earlier repairs you know about. Drop-offs and pickups are by appointment only, Monday to Friday, 9 to 2, at 37 West George Street (Rear) in Westminster.
For a large piece such as a tall clock case or a piano, call before you move it so you can talk through how to get it to the shop safely. No two pieces are alike, so David talks the job over with you and quotes it from there. You don't pay until you're satisfied.
