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Ranger Cabinetry & Restoration
We live in a world now where it is cheaper to go to Ikea to buy furniture and replace it every 5 years, than it is to buy a quality piece of furniture that will last you 25+ years. Its a sad reality for many reasons and a rule that doesn't only apply to furniture. I decided through a passion for woodworking and a special hatred of laminated cardboard, that I would do what I can to preserve, repair and restore proper furniture, among other things too.
"But if I change it every few years then I can stay up to date with style"
Yes, you can, but there is such a thing as 'timeless design', something that will look great regardless of the current trends. We've all got jeans, for example...
"I'm only going to need it for a couple of years, then I will <insert reason here>"
Probably the best reason to buy cheap, and you cannot argue with it. It makes perfect sense. All I can argue is, what if you don't get rid of it, what if something changes? And if nothing changes and you will get rid of it, think of resale values, think of the environmental impact, think about how a good piece of furniture could be passed down to relatives, or a young couple getting their first house and the great value it would be to them.
If you have a piece that deserves a make over, a repair, or just a new look, browse below and see what I can do for you, even if all I do is inspire you to try it yourself.
Kitchen Dresser
This dresser is one I bought on Facebook Marketplace a couple of years ago that we used while we renovated our home at Glebe road (see the gallery!). I always suspected that under the scuffed paintwork and broken ironmongery were the bones of a well built unit, that would withstand many more years if given some TLC.
Unfortunately, I was a bit too excited to get started, and began stripping paint from the top before taking a photo.
A sneak preview half way through, paint stripped off to reveal some great quality pine as expected. Sadly it was already covered in some old filler meaning I couldn't leave it as raw timber without the blemishes. Also, it had been altered at some point in the past as you may see that the skirting is a much more modern pine, lighter in colour and much wider spaces in the wood grain. I filled it and have sanded it down ready for painting.
Check back later for the pictures when its finished!
No 5 smoothing plane
Perhaps not that exciting to most, but to my father-in-law this hand plane was a trigger for many memories of his own father. With this tool, among others, his father built a myriad of things including their family bungalow and believe it or not, a wooden speed boat...
It had sat in a box in the in-laws garage for many years when I found it and decided it needed some love. After restoring it, my father-in-law gifted it to me hoping it would continue to be used as his father would have. It now takes pride of place among my tools and is a joy to use every time.
Ex-display Oak slab dining table
Once again, very sad to not have a before photo but I'm sure you get the idea! The table had been out in the rain, a lot. It was a display piece for a company at country shows so had been set up and dismantled hundreds of times and seen all weathers, wet and dry, hot and cold. It was badly warped, cupped and twisted. The mechanical fixings that held the legs to the top were loose and the stretcher bar between the legs had swollen.
Beyond that, the table itself was finished badly. A crack starting at one end of the table was filled with slithers of timber that I could best guess as a mix of pine and filler, it was almost as soft as cork.
I cleaned out the dodgey patching work with a range of chisels, knives and wire wheels and brushes. The patching done previously in the cracks served no benefit beyond aesthetic. It was a matter of time before the table split open again and the patches fell out. Once cleaned, I filled the cracks with black epoxy resin.
After a couple of resin pours I looked into re flattening the top and trying to removed the twists and cupping from the table. To do this, a painstaking process of hand planing and sanding. It took hours and a lot of elbow grease but I didn't want to risk removing too much material by using an electric plane.
After sanding, it looked like this:
You can already see the beautiful woodgrain starting to show through. I also decided early on that the cracks, that were clearly still opening, required a little more than just epoxy to stabilize and hold them tight. For this, I resorted to a classic Bowtie inlay. Usually I would use an offcut from the table to cut the bowties for a good colour and woodgrain match but as I didn't have offcuts, we decided to use a piece of Sapele as the red tone went nicely with the deeper tones of the oak woodgrain. Finally a coat of Rubio Monocoat to finish and delivered to the owners.
Live-edge Ash & Resin side tables
Dressing table / bedroom side table
I feel it is worth mentioning that this project was a bit of an experiment and an opportunity for me to practice and learn. This table breaks several rules of woodworking and I know any furniture maker will cringe at this one, but, it looks great and works just fine for my wife so no harm done!
The exercise was to make a live edge river type table top but without using hundreds of pounds worth of epoxy resin. I put together a simple top of chunky pine (cut out of my house roof when I did the loft conversion, 1960's timber!) and used a router to cut out the shape of the slab.
I secured the slab within the pine top, poured only 850ml of resin, and then flattened it down with a router. After sanding and a few coats of Osmo oil, a bit of a polish and some gold hairpin legs, it looks like this:
Large dog bed
A simple project, but I cant miss out an opportunity to show off my little Bernese mountain dog, Nyla.
Open storage units for a kitchen
A wonderful couple who are repeat customers of mine had a set of these in their 1940's kitchen (as seen in my gallery) and then later asked for 2 more in their new house, which I took some photos of. These are very budget friendly using just 2x2 Pine, some quality screws and a Oak worktop.
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