Post by pooka on Jul 15, 2012 16:07:01 GMT -5
I've had this old pullout dough-board for many years. I got it when they were having our local biannual big trash pickup. I drove past it a few blocks from my house & had to stop to pick it up. It's almost 28" x 41" & it appears to be made of tongue & grooved Birch. On the underside, it has two rails, wedges & stops where it would pull out of some built in cabinet or possibly a really old Hoosier cabinet before they started using the porcelain on steel tops.
There's a little shrinkage & separation from age, but not to bad considering it's probably nearly one hundred years old by my guess. I made a base for it out of two by fours & two by twos at the time, but it didn't really work for me. What I mean is, it really didn't didn't do it justice, so I put it aside for a time. I've been on the lookout for some legs that I liked for it every since.
I found some legs at the antique mall around the corner from me a few weeks ago, but they weren't priced, so I had to think about it. They aren't old, even though they look it, & they're made of para-wood or rubber tree wood that so much inexpensive furniture is made of today. I've read that it's related to maple & is of similar hardness & strength. When I decided to look again & maybe have them call the dealer to get a price quote, the booth was gone. Then after walking around & looking, I realized he had move to a bigger booth, so I took some pics & went home to think some more. This is his new booth. He has a mix of salvaged parts & pieces & in various states of disrepair. I later bought the little white cabinet, but that will be another post. ;D
These are the legs that I liked that I had to dig out from where they were piled from amongst four complete & incomplete sets. I liked the two better than the four but couldn't decide.
If I got the two, I'd have to make two more. I had two nice really old oak four by fours that I got with my old dry-sink (among other stuff) out of that old 100 year old carriage house that I cleared out. I wouldn't try to duplicate them, but only make some plain ones for the backside.
Once I decided to take the plunge, I asked at the desk & they told me he had said $8 a set or $2 each. ;D For that price I took all six & would decide later & use the others for something else, maybe.
Anyway, I decided to use the set of four, even though one was missing the top square part. I dug through my woodpile to figure out what I had to work with. Most of it is wood my uncle had cut & milled himself, so there was a limited supply of any one size or species, & none of it is any standard size. I had to be creative in my design. I've used oak for the missing top to the one leg. The rest so far is hard maple & black walnut. I believe the black walnut came from a tree that was next to my great-grand parents house. The top perimeter boards are from old crate lumber that came from a door to a storage area under my basement stairs that I rebuilt. I don't know if it's ash, beech or birch.
I'm going to make a double sided drawer that can be pulled out from either side with an old 18" x 24" drafting board that will slide out from above the drawer to be used as a dough-board/cutting board/work surface.
It still needs some work, but it's substantially taken it's form. We'll call it a heritage piece. A little of my great-grandma's & great-grandpa's black walnut, a little of grandma's & grandpa's old crate-wood door, a bit of uncle Orville's hard maple & some old legs from me. Mix with a little creativity & effort on my part. I still have to dig around for the right knobs or drawer pulls.
So far I've got about $8 for the legs & about $8 & some cents for screws, nuts & washers, plus two of those metal screw dowels that hold the one legs top I had to make on.
I love things like this. There's more history & personal connection than any amount of money can buy. Plus, it's a one of a kind unique piece that I hope will live on after me, hopefully. I will update once it's complete.
Some might think I'm a little too persnickety to go to all this effort for just a little table, but it's worth it to me. For me, it become as much a part of me as my fingers & toes, & not just a table that I bought somewhere of unknown origin made in a factory by anonymous hands. ;D
There's a little shrinkage & separation from age, but not to bad considering it's probably nearly one hundred years old by my guess. I made a base for it out of two by fours & two by twos at the time, but it didn't really work for me. What I mean is, it really didn't didn't do it justice, so I put it aside for a time. I've been on the lookout for some legs that I liked for it every since.
I found some legs at the antique mall around the corner from me a few weeks ago, but they weren't priced, so I had to think about it. They aren't old, even though they look it, & they're made of para-wood or rubber tree wood that so much inexpensive furniture is made of today. I've read that it's related to maple & is of similar hardness & strength. When I decided to look again & maybe have them call the dealer to get a price quote, the booth was gone. Then after walking around & looking, I realized he had move to a bigger booth, so I took some pics & went home to think some more. This is his new booth. He has a mix of salvaged parts & pieces & in various states of disrepair. I later bought the little white cabinet, but that will be another post. ;D
These are the legs that I liked that I had to dig out from where they were piled from amongst four complete & incomplete sets. I liked the two better than the four but couldn't decide.
If I got the two, I'd have to make two more. I had two nice really old oak four by fours that I got with my old dry-sink (among other stuff) out of that old 100 year old carriage house that I cleared out. I wouldn't try to duplicate them, but only make some plain ones for the backside.
Once I decided to take the plunge, I asked at the desk & they told me he had said $8 a set or $2 each. ;D For that price I took all six & would decide later & use the others for something else, maybe.
Anyway, I decided to use the set of four, even though one was missing the top square part. I dug through my woodpile to figure out what I had to work with. Most of it is wood my uncle had cut & milled himself, so there was a limited supply of any one size or species, & none of it is any standard size. I had to be creative in my design. I've used oak for the missing top to the one leg. The rest so far is hard maple & black walnut. I believe the black walnut came from a tree that was next to my great-grand parents house. The top perimeter boards are from old crate lumber that came from a door to a storage area under my basement stairs that I rebuilt. I don't know if it's ash, beech or birch.
I'm going to make a double sided drawer that can be pulled out from either side with an old 18" x 24" drafting board that will slide out from above the drawer to be used as a dough-board/cutting board/work surface.
It still needs some work, but it's substantially taken it's form. We'll call it a heritage piece. A little of my great-grandma's & great-grandpa's black walnut, a little of grandma's & grandpa's old crate-wood door, a bit of uncle Orville's hard maple & some old legs from me. Mix with a little creativity & effort on my part. I still have to dig around for the right knobs or drawer pulls.
So far I've got about $8 for the legs & about $8 & some cents for screws, nuts & washers, plus two of those metal screw dowels that hold the one legs top I had to make on.
I love things like this. There's more history & personal connection than any amount of money can buy. Plus, it's a one of a kind unique piece that I hope will live on after me, hopefully. I will update once it's complete.
Some might think I'm a little too persnickety to go to all this effort for just a little table, but it's worth it to me. For me, it become as much a part of me as my fingers & toes, & not just a table that I bought somewhere of unknown origin made in a factory by anonymous hands. ;D