Converted tea cabinet

This is indeed interesting and I totally understand the paint thing.,., Mny years ago here in Oz a lot of timber furniture was painted.. even timber that was of good quality. Now people are stripping off the layers of paint and restoring the timber to its original glory.
Keep up the good work

-- Drink once, cut twice. New website up.... lazylarrywoodworks.com.au

I don’t see anything distasteful. It’s a very nice little piece, and actually I think I want to make something similar. I never have any material it seems, but I do have a small stash of pine that would be perfect for a little diddy like this. Thanks for the inspiration, and nice work.

-- ~ Inspiring those who inspire me ~

stafang :

for a guy that claims not to know anything ,
you do very nice work !
let the purists grumble .
your sense of style and quality details,
speak for themselves .
your wife put it to use , so she likes it .
should we have the cars unpainted , or the houses ?
i think it looks beautifull , and if you do ,
thats all that counts !

-- david ,new mexico ,allheart

Another beautiful and very functional piece Mike…

Correct me if I’m wrong, as I am often wont to be, But isn’t there a whole lot of Shaker furniture then and now going around getting painted, mostly pine? And I believe if you take that milk paint off to get down to the original wood, usually pine -you have ruined the value of the piece. Norwegian’s and Shaker’s -both pretty smart to be using what was at hand.

-- Elaine, Conover, NC

Stafang, really like that piece. The design is great and the details you did in the finishing really adds a classic look. Nothing wrong with painted when it turns out like that! The pull itshelf adds a great touch of class. Nice job.

-- John @ Myrtle Beach

Your cabinet is beautiful Norway men are great wood craftsmen just like you are stefang and also they make great wooden boats I bought a nice clinker dinghy when I lived on an island beautifully made and I used it evry day Alistair

-- excuse my typing as I have a form of parkinsons disease

Thanks everyone for the kind remarks. Alistair you are absolutely right about the Norwegian boat builders. There are still quite a few good ones around.

-- Mike, American in Norway

Just my opinion, but I think painting is perfectly fine when it was intended to be that way, or when it restores a damaged (and unfixable) piece to use. I think the only time most people get upset about painting is when it hides the beauty of a piece of wood or fine craftsmanship. If it accentuates the craftsmanship, why not? I like it. What kind of paint? I’m looking to try milkpaint out soon.

You did a great job there Stefang. And don’t you worry a bit about painting wood, after MsDebbie's heretic works we can take it all on LumberJocks! (Just kidding my sweet canuck) :oD

Painted furniture has been part of the great tradition of furniture since the dawn of ages. Milk-paint Shaker pieces, Chinese lacquered cabinets, urushi Japanese tableware, the very own Scandinavian tradition… the examples are far too many to list here.

Your cabinet looks really the part of a great heirloom and I think I speak for many silent LJ when I say that we’de love to see more of your works. Thank you for sharing them with us.

-- Jojo, shopless in Kyoto · http://twitter.com/kagushokunin

Are you kidding me? I love this cabinet. It looks very authentic to the painted pieces we’ve got here in the Northeast. Well done!

-- Steven

Hey, this is a great piece, and I want one too! Maybe I want to see the inside, I mean not the pharmaceuticals, but how it looks inside.

-- Junji Sugita from Japan, http://tetra.blog12.fc2.com/

I agree, you are much more talented than you allow us to believe:-)) Nice work.

-- Debt is nothing more than the 21st Century's form of slavery.

stefang,
I really like the design overall, very pleaseing to the eye. The paint was surely harder to do, or would be for me, with the two colors, than having applied an oil based finsh over the whole piece. The intricasies of the pediment,moldings and pull all exhibit the craftsmanship to a degree, that the paint becomes a necessity in my mind to tame the overall picture! I’m thinking that a lot of exposed wood with figuring would detract from this pieces other attributes by becoming to busy for this minds eye!

Sincerely,
Ken McGinnis

-- woodbutcher north carolina

Well, I am surprised at the nice comments and positive reaction to this piece. There is actually a lot of painted furniture that I like, especially where paint is appropriate to cover a grain that would distract from construction details.

This piece was done in oil based paint, but I have read a bit about milk paint and have even found a recipe on the net that I can make myself. Having been born in the dairy state, I found this very appealing. You have to admire our forefathers for their ingenuity.

Once again, thanks for all your kind remarks.

-- Mike, American in Norway

Mike, I just goggled it. Looks like you need raw milk, eh? it says to separate solids from whey. I doubt if homogenized skimmed milk would work. Have you tried it?

-- Debt is nothing more than the 21st Century's form of slavery.

No I haven’t Bob, but it seems pretty straightforward. I had saved the recipe, but I think I accidentally deleted it. I seem to remember thinking at the time that I could take regular milk and strain it through a paper coffee filter, but I’m not sure. I do remember that I found more than one recipe. Did yours say you needed raw milk? I don’t remember that. Does your recipe call for raw milk?I have made a product called Kesim here in Norway, by straining homogenized skimmed milk through a paper coffee filter. I used it as a low calorie cheese-like spread on bread. It had a tart taste.

We have a really good kind of dessert that is kind of a cross between cottage cheese and pudding made with raw milk. Kind of sweet and caramel tasting. It’s called Gome (gooma). There might be an American equivalent, but I haven’t come across it.

-- Mike, American in Norway

No it didn’t say anything about raw milk, just to strain skimmed milk to remove the solids and leave the whey. The purpose of homogenizing is to prevent he seperation; therefore, I would think raw milk would be required, but I don’t know. Maybe commercial skimmed milk is good enuf??? Guess somebody is going to have to try this to see if the milk paint sours :-)) :-))

-- Debt is nothing more than the 21st Century's form of slavery.

Great cabinet, cool colors.

-- Les, Wichita, Ks. (I'd rather be covered in saw dust!)

Thanks Les. Bob below is the recipe I found. It sounds pretty easy. I might try it, but I’m not sure where to buy it. My DIL is pharmacist so she might know. It might be available at the farmers coop. Below is the address to the recipe I found. I’m pretty sure regular skimmed is ok. As I mentioned above it will separate.

http://lumberjocks.com/projects/18164

-- Mike, American in Norway

Hi Mike, That link is to this project. Maybe what they call skimmed milk in the store isn’t homoginized or it is just what is known as whey, I don’t know for sure. I was raised on a farm. We saved enough for our own use. The cream definitely came to the top :-)) There may be no point in homoginizijng shiimmed milk since the cream is already off and the rest of the solids don’t separate. I’ll try to remember to read teh label next time I’m in a gracery store. The recipe I saw top one that showed up when I googled out of curosity this AM. I didn’t save it, just read it.

-- Debt is nothing more than the 21st Century's form of slavery.

Bob, In my comments above, I meant where to buy the lime.

-- Mike, American in Norway

Here is the correct link Bob, http://www.earthpigments.com/Casein/milk-lime-paint.cfm

-- Mike, American in Norway

Hey Mike
One cool cabinet, is that were you hide your gome ? LOL Good build and nice colors.

-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop Southern Oregon

Thanks Jim, No gome stored there. Just a short term supply of the thousands of pills my wife and I take each year. I keep thinking if I had any money I would definitely buy some pharmaceutical stocks.

-- Mike, American in Norway

I am often scoffed at for painting my carvings, so I know how timid one can be about showing a painted piece. The finish is tasteful and well done, and compliments the tiny details as your tear drop brass pull that you spent the time to make yourself, and the ornament at the top. Simplicity works well, and paint can compliment such a dear piece.

Thanks for showing it.