First, get some advice
A neighbor of mine gave me this table as he is not a woodworker and felt he did not have the skills to refurbish it. So now I have another project. The table has no commercial markings on it so I feel that it was home made some years ago, maybe 50 years ago but I have nothing to base my estimate on. At any rate the table looked interesting enough that I will make an attempt at fixing it up but I am looking for a lot of advice and suggestions from anyone.
My first step will be to take the table apart, remove the oak legs, the brass corners and if possible the outside oak frame. The inlay itself is mounted/glued onto a piece of plywood it appears. A lot of the inlay has shrunk, curled, cracked and there is some water damage and one cigarette burn. Regardless I still think its unique enough that its worth the effort to refurbish it.
I do not know what type of wood has been used for the inlay. I would prefer to repair the existing wood rather than cutting new inlay as it would be difficult to match.
I have attacked some photos which better show the condition it is in. The main questions I have centre around the inlay repair. Can I reglue some of the pieces back in place that have curled. How best to glue them, white glue, epoxy? How best to fill in some of the gaps, epoxy?
Once I get some feedback I will begin to take it apart and post further.
Thanks in advance.
A neighbor of mine gave me this table as he is not a woodworker and felt he did not have the skills to refurbish it. So now I have another project. The table has no commercial markings on it so I feel that it was home made some years ago, maybe 50 years ago but I have nothing to base my estimate on. At any rate the table looked interesting enough that I will make an attempt at fixing it up but I am looking for a lot of advice and suggestions from anyone.
My first step will be to take the table apart, remove the oak legs, the brass corners and if possible the outside oak frame. The inlay itself is mounted/glued onto a piece of plywood it appears. A lot of the inlay has shrunk, curled, cracked and there is some water damage and one cigarette burn. Regardless I still think its unique enough that its worth the effort to refurbish it.
I do not know what type of wood has been used for the inlay. I would prefer to repair the existing wood rather than cutting new inlay as it would be difficult to match.
I have attacked some photos which better show the condition it is in. The main questions I have centre around the inlay repair. Can I reglue some of the pieces back in place that have curled. How best to glue them, white glue, epoxy? How best to fill in some of the gaps, epoxy?
Once I get some feedback I will begin to take it apart and post further.
Thanks in advance.