Refurb - Antique Mahogany Dresser

Last Spring, Jacob and Taryn made a trip down from Michigan with a special package. An antique mahogany dresser from Paige and Adam's house. Caryn's mother had purchased this particular piece at an antique dealer a few decades ago and it was showing its age to say the least.

I decided that it was worth taking a stab at a refinish job. At first glance it appeared to be structurally sound. One of the feet was broken off, one of the drawers stuck a bit, the finish was blotchy, the bottom was banged up pretty bad, a few of the drawer pulls were broken, and it suffered from a botched refinish job (or two) at some point in it's over-century-long use.

The project took over year to complete, but it was mostly due to competing priorities in the shop. Christmas presents, cutting boards, wooden boxes, a few pistol grips, and odds and ends.

I won't bore you with the intricate details, but will state that I tried my best to keep the original look of this piece. I wanted it to still feel like an antique and kept the original lines and design.

The only new pieces were a new base made of matching mahogany, new custom turned mahogany bun feet, and a new set of (antique) Victorian drawer pulls that matched the originals.

Here are some of the photos of the process. In retrospect, I wish I had taken more.

Original condition of the dresser propped up on an old 2x4. Notice the broken foot, with part of the busted base stuck to it. Also the finish was a bit too orange for my liking. Mahogany is usually a rich red.

Another photo of the main pieces showing an old banged up finish of most likely varnish.

The broken foot. Original design used wooden dowels, but someone in recent decades had banged in some nails to "help" sure it up. Sometimes nails just won't cut it when it comes to structural integrity.

Starting the job. Sand sand sand. Months (not-cumulative) of sanding from 80 up to 320 grit paper. Very slow and messy process. I did, however start to see the beautiful wood beneath. If you look real close, you can see where someone had filled some cracks with wood putty and spackle. I used a dental pick to painstakingly pick it all out scratch by scratch.

Took a break from sanding to build a new base. Bought some mahogany and created a 3 faced base. After the sizing was correct, I mitered the corners off and hit it with a cove bit on the router to give it a nice profile.

Here is the dresser after all pieces had been sanded, including the drawer interiors. Still a bit dusty, but ready to install the base and feet.

Here is a photo taken a few nights later, after I installed the new base, new mahogany bun feet, and the decorative back board. Starting to come to life. You will also notice the second to the last drawer that still needed one of its runners repaired.

Here is a close-up photo of the new profiled base I made, along with the new bun feet. Pretty cool bun foot design from Matthew Burak of tablelegs.com.

This is during the finishing process. Finished with 3 coats of Danish Oil. Sanding in between all coats. 3 coats of Arm-r-seal clear coat. Sanding in between. Then finished with 2 coats of paste wax to provide a smooth and durable finish.

And here is the finished product, with the new (antique) pulls that matched the originals. I'm really happy with how it turned out. Looks beautiful in the sun light.