Forklifting under the influence (FUI)

The guy driving the forklift in a warehouse I recently worked at had a very bad day. So bad in fact that you wonder if he was Forklifting under the Influence (FUI) 🙂 Damage caused below.

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The warehouse I was called to do this job works with high end furniture. This is furniture ordered by designers. The furniture is shipped to, and then stored at this warehouse where it waits for delivery.

This is very expensive furniture.

I was told this cabinet sold for $5,000.

I was asked if I could come the same week, and repair this before it needed to be shipped to North Carolina. The warehouse manager said it did not need to be designer expectations, but it did need to be a good repair, and blend in.

It was going into a model home.

This was a new customer so I wanted to make a good impression.

I patched the damage area, and had to blend the colors to match the grey color. This is a very popular color lately. I have done it a few times already this year. Even Caleb my apprentice is getting good with it.

Below is the finished repair. A lot of artwork had to go into this one.

Here is another angle

The warehouse manager was pleased, and off to North Carolina it went right on schedule!

Zeke Willard

The Drawer Thief

My drawer has been stolen. Can you make a new one!

This is the 3rd time I have gotten a call about an entire drawer being stolen.

The Similarities

  • In all three cases the customer had just moved in to their new home.
  • Each drawer had jewelry or something valuable in it.
  • Also the drawer made it easy to carry out the goods.

It is interesting because this was in the master bedroom in each home, and not many people had even been to the customer’s houses.  Hmm, makes me wonder who did it.

It sounds like a welcome to the neighborhood crime.

Who do you think did it?

When I moved inside the perimeter in 2010 I was welcomed with my home workshop being broken into. My favorite toolbox, Miter saw, and a few other items were stolen. Everything bolted down was OK. The police said they basically could do nothing, but if they located my stolen items they would call me.

A few weeks later, I did not get a call by the police, but I did get a call from a guy not too far from me. He said he found a toolbox and was wondering if I was the owner. He found it in the woods, and it had my business card taped on it.  All the tools inside were gone, but I was happy to get the toolbox back. I still use it every day for work!

 

Back to the stolen drawer.. .

I told the customer I could make a new one. She was relieved to know this. Buying a whole new dresser because of the missing drawer would cost her a lot more money. This was a well made Cherry dresser.

I took a sample drawer and copied it the best that I could. I did not have a router bit to make  the decorative  edges, so I used a hand plane to shape it. Made the casing, and had to get a wood drawer glide, and installed it. I even had to make the back decorative wood drawer guide. You can see right in front of the chisel, and shavings. Also hand turned a cherry knob on the lathe.

Below are some of the pictures of the process. and the final result when I delivered the finished drawer.

Hand planing the drawer face to thickness with my #7 Jointer plane.


Planing the decorative edge with a Block Plane.

Had to use a piece of cherry to turn a knob on the lathe.

The drawer finished, next to the  sample drawer.


The final result. The customer was happy, and now she can put her stuff back in the drawer 🙂

What can I make or repair for you?

(Head Furniture Detective) Zeke  Willard 4048031093

A Nice Day at UGA and a Surprise

Today I went to UGA Caldwell Hall to repair a Maple laminate table with a chip out of the edge.

I have to charge a trip fee since it is a little over 2 hours to drive there.

The actual work only lasted about an hour 🙂

I make the trip worth my time though.  By the pricing, and also I like to check out the college.

There is a lot of history there.

Also on the way I was thinking about how the Dawgs destroyed Middle Tennessee State this past weekend. I wondered why they play the small schools. The blowouts are not as fun to watch.

It is just practice for them for when they play the next SEC school. Up Next Missouri!

Anyway it was a nice day. I rolled my window down, and drove by Sanford Stadium, and enjoyed the sights.

Below are the before and after pictures of the repair that I did.

They were happy and surprised I could repair it.

I was happy when I went to my truck and saw that it was not booted or towed. The college police are known for giving parking tickets, and I got one a couple of years ago.

I did my best to dodge hitting college students when I pulled out.

Word of caution. Be careful driving in Athens. They do not believe in crosswalks inside the campus when classes end, and they are going to the next.

I set off for home, and was surprised with a French dinner with courses by my lovely wife.

It was a nice day in Athens, and a nice surprise when I got home.

 

Before: Chip is at bottom of edge

 

After:No more chip!

Zeke Willard

WillardZ Furniture Repair

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The Movers call me Picasso

Color is very important in furniture repair.  I have to deal with many different wood shades, and when a damage occurs I have to repair the area, and make sure to blend it out so that it is not noticeable. Most of the time I can do this on location.

After touching up so many pieces of furniture over the years  I can look at a piece, and know which combination of color will work the best.  I can then darken, or lighten the area so that it matches. The final step is that I look away or step back a couple steps. If I cannot notice it I am finished.

When you repair a piece most of the time you can see it, but no one else will. You have to know when to stop. I have made more work for myself by trying to do too much.

When I apply color I use artist brushes, and a painters palette. Also I wear an old leather cap. So in the past customers have asked if I do canvas painting (landscapes, drawing, etc) They also say that I should really try it.

I told them one day I will try. 

Over the years I have done a lot of repeat work for movers, and installers.  When they see me doing my thing they  have called me Picasso.  I don’t mind this of course because it is a compliment.  I don’t know why they picked the name Picasso. Why not Leonardo, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, or one of the other many great artists.  Anyway I consider myself more of a craftsman, than an artist.

Well ‘One day’ came, and I did my first canvas painting.

I realized that I really enjoyed it, and it has become my new hobby. I wish I would have tried it sooner!

Here are a couple more that I have done.

Maybe, an artistic craftsman?

 

Zeke Willard

 

Clocks

  • Woodworking has been part of my family tree for hundreds of years. 

I have even had the privilege to inherit tools from my grandfather. I am not sure who he got them from. It would be interesting if they came from the most famous woodworker in our family.

Simon Willard the Clock maker 1753-1848. 

He was commissioned with building clocks for the White House, Harvard, and the University of Virginia. He was also friends with Thomas Jefferson.

  • Nowadays, Simon Willard’s clocks are recognized as American masterpieces. As such, they are avidly sought by both antiquarians and museums. In perfect condition, a Simon Willard’s clock is usually sold from $50,000 up to $250,000!

Check out the wikipedia page for Simon Willard.

He is most famous for his banjo style clock. Besides the one that hangs in my dining room, I have only seen 1 , and it was being repaired at a clock shop.

I have had to do touch up repair to many different clock styles.  The one I come across the most with damage is the grandfather clocks. They are heavier, and they seem to get dinged up when they are moved. I have not been trained in horology so I leave the mechanism damage to the clock repair pros.

I usually can handle any wood damage. This includes turnings, and carved pieces that are broken / missing.

The clock that I repaired today was a family heirloom. It may not be an expensive clock, but it meant a lot to the owner because it was given to her by her grandfather.

It was damaged right below the clock face. Right below the 5.

It was gouged so I had to do a burn in repair, and then mix and match the color. I then had to make sure the patina / sheen did not change. As always I will look for minor damage and touch it up also so that everything looks good.

The customer was satisfied, and was relieved that her heirloom clock was not completely ruined!

Zeke Willard

Scrap Wood is Good

I was asked to repair a very large hole put into a laminate conference table base. The conference table base was hollow to allow data cables, etc through it.

The owner of the business did not think it could be repaired.  After going back and forth with the movers the owner allowed me to take a look at it.

He said, “You saw the pictures right? Are you sure you want to waste time coming by to look at it?”

Sometimes there are things that are beyond repair, but I had a plan for this one.

Scrap Wood!

You know the stuff that piles up in the shop after making furniture parts. Before we moved to our new location I threw away boxes full of scrap wood. Of course I picked through and kept the best pieces to help with repairs.

It is very difficult to throw away mahogany, walnut, or maple, let alone rosewood!

Most of what was thrown away was plywood, and particle board ( known as termite diarrhea) in the shop.

 

I have a toolbox that I keep nothing but useful wood pieces in. I used several to fill the hole. I made them fit pretty compact so I would not have to use as much filler.  Anyway I filled the damage and matched the color.

And here is another view:

The owner came by to take a look after I was finished.  He said, “Can I have your card?”

 

Zeke Willard

Abraham’s Table?

I repaired an interesting carved table at a warehouse recently.

This table was very heavy and was solid wood. Reminded me of a maple burl wood, but it did come from Thailand.

When the warehouse guys opened the box they discovered a very large crack in the side!

This is solid wood, and the temperature changes probable caused it to crack during shipment.

I had to make sure that the dowel that connects the leg fit perfectly.

I shaved some of the wood off with a hand plane to make it flat where the crack goes across the hole. I then had to fill and match the color.

Below is the result.

And another picture with the table turned right side up.

As I was packing up to leave one of the warehouse guys looked at the table and said,

“Wow,  that looks just like Abraham’s table!”  I realized he was talking about Abraham in the bible. He goes on to say, ” You know the one he used, and he almost sacrificed his son on it!” 

I laughed because it did look like some kind of sacrificial table. I said,  “Abraham had great faith didn’t he?”

The warehouse guy replied, “And I should of had more faith, because I thought there was no way you could have repaired that table!!”

Zeke Willard

 

Big Fish

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The other day I worked on a Blue Marlin!  This is a first for me. Sometimes  I get some unusual requests to repair.

One of my favorite books is The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway.  In that novella he battles a blue marlin off of the coast of Cuba. It is an epic battle, and I won’t tell you who wins. You have to read it for yourself 🙂 Marlins are very tough, and will take you a great deal of energy, and time to pull in.

The person who caught this probably had a fight on his hands. The fish is mounted on a block of wood, and is probably going to hang in someones den.

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Don’t mind the guy behind the Marlin. Caleb loves it when I make him do this. 🙂

The Marlin had a lot of color damage to the side previously, and the only thing they wanted repaired were  the broken fins.

Below are the damaged areas:

IMG_20170327_113430088The bottom middle was missing 2 fins

Below is the repair. Had to glue, then fill the cracks and touch up the damage. Good thing I had my blue and green powders.  Also it was good that the pieces were saved!

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Here is another repair.

Back Fin is broken

Before

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After

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Below is a pic of the final result

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This one is shipping out to Texas to a customer. Hopefully it isn’t mishandled and broken again in transport!

Zeke Willard

Another Toy Soldier!

You never know what might be coming into the Shop.

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How about a 6ft tall Toy Soldier.  It was broken in half at the base during a recent move.

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It may have looked sketchy when I took it out of the truck during delivery . It was wrapped in moving blankets, and looked like I was moving a body!

My apprentice helped me move it into the shop so I could do a little doctoring to it.

Below are some of the damages I repaired.

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This is not the first toy soldier I have repaired. I have repaired a couple of others in the past, so I had some leftover paint. I had to build a support out of scrap wood to give the legs support, a little gluing, filling, and touch up and he was good as new.   Another day at the office.

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At Ease Josiah. All Finished.

Zeke Willard