Victorian Wall Cabinet

This is a small Victorian era wall cabinet made of both walnut and pine.

Wall Cabinet

When it was brought in, it was missing the door. Some trim on the bottom was wrong and four of the turnings were missing.

Missing Door

This piece had been repaired at least once before, the bottom trim piece doesn’t match any other area of trim and is pine. It was installed with yellow glue, if original it would be walnut glued with hide glue. The bulk of the piece is walnut, but the beaded back boards are pine, This makes me suspect that the back boards are also replacements.

Hinge Mortices

The back boards are applied with wire brads. Round wire brads were not widely available until the 1880s.

Bottom

There are two turnings missing here.

Rub Joint

Building the new door by rubbing two pieces of walnut together. I buy and keep on hand 1/4”, 3/8”, and 1/2” walnut and poplar from a scroll saw supplier, This saves a lot of time on these types of repairs. This piece belongs to a dealer and based on her budget I only had three hours to repair the piece or I was loosing money.

New parts

All the pieces ready for assembly.

New Parts installed

Assembled, the original door probably had some type of additional decoration but it’s not in the budget. The finish is amber toner and shellac.

 Finished