My BIL and I were heading out to an estate sale last Thursday morning, when I spotted a small curio cabinet that a neighbor had put out with the trash. I couldn't see having it go to the landfill and figured I could do something with it, so we shamelessly loaded it in the back of my truck and dropped it off in my garage.
The neighbor had tried to repair it over the years by re-gluing corners and adding staples, but it was a basket case. The corner joints were all separated and loose, the mirrored back was detached, the remaining glass was about to fall out, the finish was challenged and it was soaking wet from rain the previous night.
Over the next few days I took it apart, cleaned up the wood and re-glued and clamped the corners. After reassembling it, I added some Old English stain to the exterior and applied several coats of paste wax.
It originally had short wire formed legs and was intended to stand on the floor. I wanted to put it on top of a bookcase in my man cave, so I substituted felt pads for the legs. I toyed with the idea of replacing the mirrored back with a pegged panel to display knives, but I finally settled on using it to showcase some of my old boxes of ammo.
I'm happy with the way it turned out and I didn't have to spend a dime on the rebuild. As my BIL likes to say, our time is free and projects keep us out of trouble!
The neighbor had tried to repair it over the years by re-gluing corners and adding staples, but it was a basket case. The corner joints were all separated and loose, the mirrored back was detached, the remaining glass was about to fall out, the finish was challenged and it was soaking wet from rain the previous night.
Over the next few days I took it apart, cleaned up the wood and re-glued and clamped the corners. After reassembling it, I added some Old English stain to the exterior and applied several coats of paste wax.
It originally had short wire formed legs and was intended to stand on the floor. I wanted to put it on top of a bookcase in my man cave, so I substituted felt pads for the legs. I toyed with the idea of replacing the mirrored back with a pegged panel to display knives, but I finally settled on using it to showcase some of my old boxes of ammo.
I'm happy with the way it turned out and I didn't have to spend a dime on the rebuild. As my BIL likes to say, our time is free and projects keep us out of trouble!
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