There are few things in this world more pleasing than seeing
something of beauty coming together under your own hand.
The few things that are featured on this page were made
by Myself, from old timber reclaimed from the local garbage tip,
and from Opportunity shops in our neighbourhood.
The most recent to be completed is the table below.
The table top comes from a late 1800's gentlemans wardrobe.
Purchased for $20.
There are only two planks of Blackwood in the top 480 mm (19in)
wide and 40 mm (1 1/2in) thick. This timber no longer exists
in this size, as it was all harvested in the early 1900's.
The table legs and cross members came from a de-commissioned
railway station. This old table was, unfortunatly, also destined
for the tip. Because the linial cross member was very worn, I covered
the worn parts with offcuts from the wardrobe.
The biggest expense of building this table,was the joining of the two
slabs of timber, which was done by a professional joiner at
a cost of one hundred dollars.
The chairs I did not build myself,but picked up totally
delapidated from a garage sale for the princely sum of
One Dollar each. After totally dismantling the chairs, they were
re dowled, re glued stained, put together and laqured and finally
re upholsered.
One of the first things that I attempted, was a Mantle piece that I
picked up from a second-hand store very cheaply. At that stage we were
renovating an old house that was built in about 1880. I thought that
the Mantle would look good in the old house. The results are what
you see below.....
This is also made of blackwood, which comes from the Black Wattle Tree.
On finding that I liked renovating old furniture, I decided to keep
my eye out for anything that I thought that I could work on.
Of corse there have been utter disasters, and you may be assured that
I will not show you them.
The Grandfather chairs that are featured below, were rescued from
the garbage tip on one of our regular trips there while we were renovating
our house. These two chairs were being thrown off the load beside us.
I saw the value of the old pieces, and asked if I could have them.
When I arrived home with them,I was told to take them back to the tip
by our Son-in-law Julian.
This is the result of the restoration.....
The Burgandy chair,we gave to our daughter Trudy
on her Twentyfirst birthday.
The Wegwood one went to our son Les on the occasion
of his eighteenth birthday.
The chair below, A Ladies Chair, is one of my not so serious failures...
I bought this one at an auction, as I thought that
it was not too bad structually. BUT when I started to
pull it apart, I found that all the seat joints had been
split and had glued together. Without going to all the trouble of
making new pieces for it, I just braced it and hoped for the best.
About three months ago, we had a garage sale and disposed of
it for twice the price I paid for it.
The reason they are called Ladies chairs, is because in the
days gone bye, the gentleman always held the chair for the
lady and when the lady was ready to be seated,(the gentleman) would then
wheel the chair under her. Note the wheels on the front
legs of the chair for that purpose.
This page was created on the 31st July 2000
Last updated 2nd August 2000
rm_freeburn@iprimus.com.au
This page was created and is maintained by
Bob and Margaret Freeburn.
Graphics for these pages supplied by
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