Restoring a Pair of Antique Georgian Side Tables Part 1

In this video professional furniture restorer Simon Gilboy demonstrates some of the antique restoration techniques www.gilboys.co.uk use in their workshop.
Our customers Georgian tables had suffered from prolonged water damage after they were removed from long term storage.
In this episode Simon uses pressurised steam to release old joints and make good the old repairs. He goes on to use raw earth powders, combined with shellac and methylated spirits, to help disguise the water damaged repair areas.
(with ASMR elements)
00:04 Introduction
04:20 How to remove a rusty screw
06:00 How to use steam to release wooden joints
08:30 Using traditional hide glue
10:07 How to apply string inlay
14:10 How to disguise the repairs using raw earth pigments
21:35 Before and after (colouring)
21:59 Traditional Colouring of wood reveal
22:29 Graining the wood repair
24:14 Whats in part two?
French Polishers Pigments and soluble spirits colours used by Simon
Raw Umber
Yellow Ochre
Burnt Umber
Titanium White (flake)
Orange Chrome
Raw Umber
Burnt Sienna
Mineral Black
Spirit Colours (soluble with methylated spirits / denatured alcohol)
Red - Black - Green - Oak
#antiquerestoration #furniturerepair #waxpolish #beeswaxpolish
#inlay #graining #woodwork #frenchpolishing #woodfinishing #waxpolishing #antiquerepair #woodrestoration #asmr

[@maturefox1]

... a m a z i n g ! ! ! I love to watch someone working who really knows what he's doing! Thanks for sharing! Greetings from Germany, the silver fox, David 😉🦊

[@GilboysRestoration]

Thank you.

[@dorotakubiak91]

Excellent!!! An eye opener.

[@angelinaklineburgess5286]

Amazing!

[@GilboysRestoration]

Thank you.

[@daan7330]

I love Your video's , and Your Wax !

[@GilboysRestoration]

Thank you. 🙂

[@daan7330]

no , thank You , I use your wax on the inside of my traditional motoryacht , and every time I step aboard its a joy to see the woodwork , just the right amount of shine . @@GilboysRestoration

[@jackieohehir3259]

Ace job on the colouring.....music was nice also😁

[@GilboysRestoration]

Thanks Jackie 🙂

[@kurtisjohnson9530]

Music was nice.

[@Cradley684]

Absolutey really interesting work, nice to see a Master at work, please try and do more like, have a nice day, Brian West Mids !!!.

[@GilboysRestoration]

Thanks Brian.. Theres more to come...

[@terrileyda5346]

Amazing work!

[@GilboysRestoration]

Thank you.

[@diannehardwick950]

What a beautiful job. It must be very satisfying to restore such elegant tables. Well done!

[@GilboysRestoration]

Thanks Dianne. 🙂

[@Quaker521]

Really interesting to see how you go about your restorations. Looking forward to part two. Thanks for the upload.

[@GilboysRestoration]

Thank you.

[@ChronoVersatur]

Nice colour work. Looking forward to part 2.

[@GilboysRestoration]

Coming soon. 🙂

[@lisamccaff9217]

Simon, I loved this. Question: would the original baize be retained generally? Thank you for showing us the artistic element to your craft. Wonderful.

[@GilboysRestoration]

Hi Lisa. Yes you would try to preserve the original baize as much as possible, but there is a point at which you would replace and thats when it looks an absolute 'dogs breakfast' 😃.

[@gav2759]

Thanks for posting this informative vid. The colouring was admirable. It's one of those jobs I am find a bit hit and miss. on the occasions such jobs turn up I muddle through and determine to put in some practice before the next one but I never do.👍

[@GilboysRestoration]

Thanks Gav. To be honest I think these tables were incredibly challenging. I could have carried on and on. But I had to stop at some point. depending on the lighting it constantly changed. But the overall finish was effective. Its a fine line between replacing and colouring. But that is a major debatable question for many types of 'restoration' be it wood or cars or houses... Thanks for watching 🙂

[@jeanine6492]

Love love love this type of work. Please more of this. Would love more details of how you choose which colours. It always looks to me that you are starting with a lighter colour than the background colour. Do you ‘sneak up on it’ so to speak? Can’t wait for part 2.

[@GilboysRestoration]

Thanks jeanine. When I am looking at colouring out a specific area, I try and look at the background colour. It's the solid colour that denotes the overall look of the wood. Some people call it the 'ground' colour. Then I build up with layers of non solid colour, so its translucent. Practise is key! I really enjoy colouring, but these tables were incredibly challenging. Because the entire look and colour of the table would change depending on the angle you were viewing from. 😬

[@fraforgt-350r2]

Well done. I’ve been really getting into restoring antiques thanks to you. Just finished restoring a walnut burr veneer chest of drawers with a folding out table top. It’s really neat with a few hidden drawers on the sides too. Your technique for replacing veneers really got me on the right track, found some walnut burr veneer on eBay for a few quid, really happy with the result never would have thought it was that cheap and easy to fix. Still hoping to get some more of your wax from the family next Xmas as I’ve run out because I’ve been doing so much polishing 😂

[@GilboysRestoration]

Well done. It's really nice to know that I can help others get into restoring antiques. Keep gong. I hope to have more videos out soon. 🙂 Best wishes Simon

[@fraforgt-350r2]

@@GilboysRestoration great. Look forward to watching them

[@kurtisjohnson9530]

Cheers from Nebraska. Thank you for your teaching on coloring, something I have always been interested in but have not had an entry point into which until now. As a child I inherited my grandfather’s oil paints which consisted of nearly the exact colors in your pallet. I became very familiar with those hues. Over here powders tend to be named differently, so the names of yours are “home” for me and I found a great source for them. Alas, they cost more over here which I figure is possibly indicative of a smaller market for such things. My first projects will be on a number of vintage joinery saws and hand saws I’ve tenderly repaired. Burnt umber and burnt siena are on order. A couple questions… First, I’m curious what I should use as a binder? You mentioned a “special pale binder” but I don’t know what that might be. Second, are you using methylated spirits to wet and mix the paints, the shellac with the binder, or something else entirely? Any help would be super appreciated. UPDATE: I went back through some older videos I’ve watched before and got your process down. The “pale polish” binder IS the shellac and you appear to be using that with equal amount of methylated spirits laid down first, and then artfully mixing in the powders. Thanks again!

[@cobberpete1]

Shhhh Artist at work. Been awhile since your last one Simone. So relaxing to watch. Can I ask... What is the make / model of your steam machine? I need something like that to clean my wax rendering equipment ( I keep Bees) . AND The Sweet Pea seeds you sent with my Polish order last year flowered profusely, I'm sure my Bees would have partaken 😊

[@GilboysRestoration]

Thanks Peter. Sorry it’s been soo long. My plan is to get at least 1 video out each month. 🙃I’m editing part two right now. 🙂

[@TheFurnitureArtisan]

Glad you mention the lighting. Clearly we get a different look on screen than you have in the workshop. I’d be interested in your experience of working on pieces in the ‘shop under one type of light and how different it can look once back in its position at the clients home. 🤔

[@GilboysRestoration]

Hi Dan. You've hit the nail on the head! The amount of times I've said to apprentices. Do your colouring in natural daylight. (if possible) It used to be a lot more difficult to try and replicate the natural lighting environment; Back when I was an apprentice, we had huge sodium lights (that used to take ages to warm up) Not so much theses days as we tend to work under LED lights. ( as long as it's warm white) But during the 90's and early 2000's we had fluorescent lighting, which was terrible for colouring. It washed out all the warmth, and when you took it to a customers house with Tungsten lighting it glowed red! 🤪

[@TheFurnitureArtisan]

Yeah, pretty much my experience. I’ve found that there is no perfect environment or solution. It’s never been a huge issue but I have been caught out on the odd a occasion when I’ve delivered it back into situ. At tip for anyone who might like to try is that, although far from scientific and/or perfect, i somethings take a small portable light of similar type as to that in the workshop with me so I can get an eye for things. May be total nonsense but it does give me a little more confidence when explaining to the client the issues that may occur.

[@nickwoodall4744]

Another great video Simon, very inspirational. Did you mix the pigments with the shellac and meths? Thank you.

[@GilboysRestoration]

Hi Nick Thank you. Yes, a small amount of shellac and meths. If you don’t use shellac the colour can easily be wiped off when you polish over it. 🤪

[@nickwoodall4744]

@@GilboysRestoration brilliant thank you, every days a school day.

[@paulmaun]

What does the French polish look like on a blond maple finish

[@GilboysRestoration]

Hi It looks beautiful. If you use a transparent polish there will be no noticeable change in colour. 🙂

[@ramblinvanman6250]

6 - 8 lbs

[@GilboysRestoration]

✅

[@lisamccaff9217]

Grey squirrel or Red Squirrel?

[@GilboysRestoration]

Definitely 100 % Grey. 🙂

[@grayukuk]

💥Very poor job on the splits!!💥