12/26/2023 0 Comments Hidden drawer![]() ![]() They are making an antique or piece of furniture meant to look antique. But an over zealous repair shop or someone imitating an old style, isn't concerned with such details because they are not making a piece of furniture. So why waste time and money finishing areas that were never seen? Such waste isn't logical if you are making furniture. If you were making lots and lots of drawers, an ounce of stain saved on every drawer could mean considerable extra profits. If you were a 18th or 19th century cabinet maker or factory owner, you were concerned with profit and speed of production. There is no logical reason to have the same finish on the highly visible surfaces as on hidden surfaces. If a drawer is finished the same inside and out, on the sides, front and back, the drawer may be old but the finish is not. In this particular example you can even tell the finish was applied to the front before the dovetails were cut because the tails of the front piece appear dark against the tails of the side. The sides of the drawer which are hidden from view, are not stained. The front of the drawer which is exposed to view has been stained and varnished. Old furniture, like new furniture you buy today, is seldom finished the same way in areas that are visible and areas that are hidden. While you have them out, you should now check for several other small but important details that can tell you about age, repairs, extent of restoration and whether the finish is original. If you decide the bottoms of the drawers are correct and want to continue your examination, don't put the drawers back just yet. ![]() Even if there are only two drawers, the underneath of the top-most drawer should be lighter than the underneath of the bottom-most drawer. This is generally true for all pieces of furniture regardless of the number of drawers (Fig. That's why the underneaths of genuinely old upper drawers are lighter in color than genuinely old lower drawers (Fig. Less air means less exposure to smoke and grease. Less air reaches upper drawers because they are protected by the drawer(s) below. Over many years the dirt, dust, grease and smoke circulating in room air is absorbed by the exposed bottom of the lowest drawer (Fig. The underneath side of the lowest drawer should be darker than the underneath side of the top drawer. Now pull out the highest or top drawer and look at the underneath side of it. 1).īegin a drawer examination by pulling out and turning over the lowest or bottom drawer first. In this article, we will be discussing the aging and wear patterns on American bottom gliding drawers (Fig. One of the ways to make sure a piece of furniture is actually old, and not over restored, reproduced or new, is to look for genuine signs of normal wear and aging. Just like calling a piece of furniture old, don't make it so. "If you call a cow's tail a leg", Lincoln began, "how many legs would a cow have?" He paused, then answered, "Just four – because calling a tail a leg don't make it so." To recall this to the jury, he asked a riddle. ![]() Lincoln was summing up a case in which he thought a witness was less than truthful. Every time I see some new piece of furniture sold for old, I'm reminded of a Lincoln story. ![]()
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