So, this Buffet is very much a different approach to the average commission. Call it re-modelling, recycling or up-cycling, like this piece, either way it’s an extreme version of which ever one you choose.
I convinced the client this project would be far better approached as a re-modelling effort, not a restoration. Originally requested as a restoration, this job would have been pretty much impossible as such.
I dismantled the original Buffet and I reused all of the timber that I could salvage in the re-modelling. As I explained to the client, it preserves the sentimental value of the material while simultaneously providing the opportunity to continue that forward into the future.
I think it was well worth the effort, and now exists as a piece of furniture with profound personal value.
I would also like to add that this piece had it’s challenges none more so than the movement of the wood. Absolute nightmare. This is, of course, a perennial problem with wood. It seems that the older the wood the more it is likely to move. I suspect that this has to do with the base moisture content of it.
In offering some advice, to anyone reading this, if you have such a thing in your house, think about this story before you burn it. Sadly too many classic piece of furniture get trashed. And that trashed furniture generally gets replaced with cheap chynese junk, sad.
