The following is an extensive restoration I carried out on a genuine antique wooden clock case. Quite a while ago whilst visiting a friend I was asked if I would have a quick look at his old clock which he thought "needed a bit of work"? We lifted the clock out of the gloom to where I could inspect it more closely in better light. At first glance I thought its not too bad and will be easy to fix but as I looked closer at it I saw the many problems and these problems were not at all small. It suffered from split and missing veneer; the top panel was badly cupped; one of the top joints had opened up in fact I said why not throw it into a skip; although a genuine antique it's value and rarity was not high. My friend would have struggled with this restoration and would have little chance of applying a decent finish because I had already seen his previous work.
Like the sucker that I am I said pull the works out and let me have a go at the case restoration and you being the clock expert can sort out the mechanism; I had never attempted restoring a clock case previously but I had restored many vintage radio cabinets. With the clock home and on the bench I removed the door because to damage this or break the antique glass would see the end of this job. With the door safely out of the way I thought what have I taken on as I looked at the bare case. It was a wreck with no redeeming features whatsoever so whatever I did to it wouldn't hurt it much further? The bottom sections had also started to come apart.
I had been given full permission to do whatever I wanted to this clock case so looking at its sorry state I decided the best way to proceed would be to remove all the old battered veneer and start over. The old veneer had been installed with hot hide glue which pleased me but it was still a right pain removing it and little by little I steamed it off in small strips. With the veneer removed it revealed extensive damage to the front top panel in fact part of this panel fell off to cheer me up. I re-glued the panel but the panel was badly deformed with a large prominent cup towards the front and one of the side joints had also broken. So it wants to play games with me does it? A good smack with a hammer had the top panel removed saving lots of fussing around. The broken joint looked a right mess but at least the two parts were still there.
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The following day I was keen to remove the clamps and when I did this cheered me up; the broken joint was now totally invisible having gone back together perfectly. I then sorted the bottom section using hot hide glue and clamping which took care of that. I like using hot hide glue but this glue takes a bit of getting used to because it gels very quickly so speed is needed during a glue up. If hot hide glue is used the joints should stay together for hundreds of years because it is a terrifically strong glue; it sets rock hard and doesn't creep but even after 100 years it can still be softened. Hide glue is cheap and a double glue pot doesn't cost a fortune; mine cost £20 through eBay and has earned its keep many times.
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Hand sanding followed going lightly because modern veneer is very thin; this was followed by Vandyke stain and was left overnight to completely dry. I was pleased once the stain went on because it killed the stripyness of the veneer. Next job was to apply the finish. I had chosen French polish (shellac); I applied the polish but wasn't at all happy because for this application it was much too shiny often referred to as a "toffee apple" the more I looked at it the more I disliked it so decided to give it a matt finish to see if it would look any better? I used "0000" grade wire wool wetted with liquid paraffin as a lubricant and gave the polish a good going over working with the grain but taking a lot of care at edges not to cut through to bare veneer. Wiping off revealed a perfect finish in keeping with such an antique; I was pleased.
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I applied the French polish using an artists #2 fan brush building layer on layer until a good thickness had been built up this was then left a full day to fully harden; next I simply went over using the wire wool and liquid paraffin; it worked a treat in fact I couldn't believe how quickly I had achieved this beautiful finish? This was a revelation to me; looking at the hand rubbed finish I thought that was incredibly easy to achieve and it looks as though I've spent hours working on it; French polishing proper takes much longer to achieve if the mirror finish is desired but for this clock case the hand rubbed finish suited it perfectly. The inside of the clock gave its antique age away and now the outside although factory fresh looked as though the clock had been cared for all its life and once dirt accumulates in the corners it will look genuine? What a delightful job this had been for me and I enjoyed the challenge. I returned the door and asked my friend to please take some pictures of the finished clock and send them by email? I didn't charge a single penny for either materials or labour after all I had enjoyed the pleasure of doing the job and it was for a friend.
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Kind regards, Col.
