Partly sunny or partly cloudy can be a name game. We had spurts of sunshine throughout yesterday. We never did get the rain that was predicted.
The blue sky was nice to see. It is a better looking sky when their are gaps and no solid overhead banks of clouds. We were predicted to have snow over the weekend. We get snow in March. It isn't unusual.
My parents had two of these on their back porch. I don't have a clue where they came from but the possibilities of them being in the old house that my dad had torn down, could be a clue. Of the two of them my brother took one out to his father-in-law. It was the best one, as the one that was left had warped parts where one had to put things under the base to keep it standing.
The design has a lot of history as people used them to hold their ferns in their parlors. I don't know if they were ever sold by furniture stores but this one is solid oak.
If it were made in a factory the parts were glued together and as you see here the single squares were secured with one screw per square. The brace is securing the one piece to the solid square piece. I am gong to do two more braces to keep it strong.
This is the top view of the base. I was surprised to see it was all oak as it looked like it had been covered a dark finish. The more I wash it down the more I realize that this piece was very grimy with lots of dirt.
The top piece had the one board also had warped and disconnect to the major top piece. Here I am gluing the main top piece back to the second square of wood. I had to remove the screws to let me flatten it all back together. You can see the definite oak grain in the one loose piece in the foreground.
The one loose piece can't be installed until I can get the clamps removed from the glue job. I do know that I will sand the top off to a smooth surface but the rest is going to get a steel wool scrubbing on the other parts of it. The end result will be shared when I have it all finished. This is one of the projects that I moved to the new house and it feels good to get it finally addressed. I have a rocking chair that needs work but I may take a break from projects for now.
Thanks for stopping by today. Be careful out there and take care.
3 comments:
We used to have a fern stand like that, from my grandparents.
Looks like a fun project! I doubt I could do half of the things with wood anymore.. now that I no longer have a "wood shop" But I luckily do not miss it too much. Sometimes there is a project where I wish I had more room. ( No clamps, no bench, no table saw....)
I have a fern stand upstairs...mine has been painted and doesn't have the original top. Mine has four legs so it is sturdy. I think many were damaged from leaky pots or over watering. Yours should be lovely when you get done! :)
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