Friday, April 11, 2014

Linda's 3/4 National Treadle


In the last post I regretted the lack of photos of this machine.  I visited my formerly-imaginary-friend Linda (now a real one, I hope I can claim!) and had so much fun that I forgot to take enough pictures.  But she came to the rescue and sent me bunches of pictures of this interesting cabinet.


The "Before" Photos



Fascinating design, but when I saw it, it was fairly rugged looking



Linda thinks the side compartments look like saddle bags.  You will see the covers to these compartments in the "after" photos.



Amazingly the top did NOT have the usual plant pot water rings.



photo enhanced to show the way the finish had left the building.  did not look quite this bad in person





The "After" Photos

I have said it before, and I will say it again:  Howard's Restor-A-Finish is a miracle worker.  I think Linda agrees.  Especially after I told her I thought there was too much damage to this finish for Howard's to do the job.  I just love being wrong.  No, that's not a snarky comment, I really DO love being wrong.  It's pretty much the only way I learn things.


So take a look and see if you agree about the Howard's.  She also did some sanding, and my only concern now is that the Howard's might not be enough protection for the wood.  What do you think about this?  Inquiring minds want to know.










It is not easy to see, so use your imagination for this next bit.  Each of the saddle bags has a lid that follows the slope of the compartment.  But on top of each saddle bad lid is a handle (next to the yellow star in the photo) that is parallel to the top of the machine, so that when the machine is open, the machine cover rests on the saddle bag lid.  I just love interesting designs.






Oh My Gosh this is a beautiful machine


I tried to enlarge and photo enhance the bed decal, which looks better in person.  She has named him "Griff" after this griffin.




I always love a nice ruler on the front, don't you?  She was worried that the Howard's might take this off, but she was careful and it survived.


 Eh, voila, the finished product.


Way to go, Linda!

6 comments:

  1. Thank you! And no worries! You are a real for sure friend! :-)) thanks for making me and Griff famous! ;-)

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  2. Really nice job. I did not think your comment was at all snarky. I guess I will give Howard's another try

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  3. What an interesting cabinet! How awesome! I'm bringing a 3/4 size parlor cabinet home to NC from TN ---I've been looking for a cabinet to treadle my 99's, and now I've got one! :)

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  4. What a great cabinet. I could really make use of those saddle bags on the sides. I need to take one of my treadle cabinets out to the garage and work on it. Since most of the veneer is missing on the inside of the lid, I'm thinking of removing the rest of it. I'm tired of it snagging my projects, and having to cover it with template plastic and blue tape each time I use it.

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  5. Wow! Did Linda sand off all the varnish? I don't have much woodworking experience, but I melt beeswax with a bit of mineral oil (just enough to make the paste workable) and rub that in for protection. I have no idea if that's a good thing to do or not but the winters are very dry in the northeast and I'm hoping it helps keep the wood from drying out. I'm wondering -- how accurate is that ruler? I love inlaid and decal'd rulers in cabinets but I've never had one.

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  6. Today was my first experience with Howard's...magic! Not perfect, but it made my 1910 treadle look a thousand times better than when I started. It's not going to need a lot of protection as long as it lives with me, but I will put a coat or two of wax on it in the near future.

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