Before You Paint an Old Dresser, Pull Out One Drawer
Worth Saving With Jonas
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đź“• https://jonasoldways.com/
How to tell if an old dresser is antique: pull out one drawer before you paint it or refinish it. The dovetails, the saw marks under the drawer and one nail will date it.
This is how to identify and date antique furniture from the inside, where nobody was meant to look. Hand cut vs machine cut dovetails, the Knapp half moon joint, straight and curved saw marks, wrought, cut and wire nails, old screws, plywood bottoms, replaced hardware and married pieces. Then what that means for refinishing an antique dresser, painting an old one, and lead paint on old furniture.
CHECK IT BEFORE YOU PAINT IT
1. The front corner of a drawer: a few wide, uneven dovetails, or a row of even machine ones?
2. The bottom board: lay paper on it and rub a pencil across. Straight lines, curves, or plywood?
3. One nail at the back: square and tapered, flat cut, or round wire? Read it, do not pull it.
4. A second drawer: do they match each other and the case?
WHAT THE DRAWER DECIDES
SAVE: hand cut, hand planed, old nails, everything agrees. Leave the finish alone.
RESTORE: old and sound but tired. Fix what is broken, keep the surface.
ORDINARY: machine cut, round nails, no maker's name. Paint it and use it.
UNSAFE: dry sanding old paint. Treat paint from before 1978 as lead.
00:00 How to tell if a dresser is antique
01:17 Hand cut vs machine cut dovetails
03:00 The Knapp half moon joint (1870s to 1900)
03:59 Reading the bottom of the drawer
05:04 Saw marks, straight or curved: the pencil rubbing
06:14 Old nails and screws: wrought, cut, wire
07:46 Do the drawers match? Married pieces
09:05 Original finish and refinishing antique furniture
10:04 Lead paint on old furniture
11:06 Save it, restore it, or paint it
12:12 The part nobody was meant to see
Worth Saving With Jonas: before you clean it, sell it, or throw it away, check it with Jonas. No valuations are given here for your piece. If something made you stop, have a local appraiser or a collectors' group look at it in person.
Sources: Popular Woodworking (Bob Flexner), Fine Woodworking, US Patent 63,532 (Knapp, 1867), Chipstone Foundation, Winterthur, National Park Service, American Institute for Conservation, PBS Antiques Roadshow, CPSC, EPA, CDC.
Jonas is a fictional, AI-assisted host. The facts in this video come from the published sources above.
#antiquefurniture #antiquedresser #furniturerestoration
God keep you, friend. Jonas. Holmes County, Ohio.
Before You Paint an Old Dresser, Pull Out One Drawer
Worth Saving With Jonas
28 views
đź“• https://jonasoldways.com/
How to tell if an old dresser is antique: pull out one drawer before you paint it or refinish it. The dovetails, the saw marks under the drawer and one nail will date it.
This is how to identify and date antique furniture from the inside, where nobody was meant to look. Hand cut vs machine cut dovetails, the Knapp half moon joint, straight and curved saw marks, wrought, cut and wire nails, old screws, plywood bottoms, replaced hardware and married pieces. Then what that means for refinishing an antique dresser, painting an old one, and lead paint on old furniture.
CHECK IT BEFORE YOU PAINT IT
1. The front corner of a drawer: a few wide, uneven dovetails, or a row of even machine ones?
2. The bottom board: lay paper on it and rub a pencil across. Straight lines, curves, or plywood?
3. One nail at the back: square and tapered, flat cut, or round wire? Read it, do not pull it.
4. A second drawer: do they match each other and the case?
WHAT THE DRAWER DECIDES
SAVE: hand cut, hand planed, old nails, everything agrees. Leave the finish alone.
RESTORE: old and sound but tired. Fix what is broken, keep the surface.
ORDINARY: machine cut, round nails, no maker's name. Paint it and use it.
UNSAFE: dry sanding old paint. Treat paint from before 1978 as lead.
00:00 How to tell if a dresser is antique
01:17 Hand cut vs machine cut dovetails
03:00 The Knapp half moon joint (1870s to 1900)
03:59 Reading the bottom of the drawer
05:04 Saw marks, straight or curved: the pencil rubbing
06:14 Old nails and screws: wrought, cut, wire
07:46 Do the drawers match? Married pieces
09:05 Original finish and refinishing antique furniture
10:04 Lead paint on old furniture
11:06 Save it, restore it, or paint it
12:12 The part nobody was meant to see
Worth Saving With Jonas: before you clean it, sell it, or throw it away, check it with Jonas. No valuations are given here for your piece. If something made you stop, have a local appraiser or a collectors' group look at it in person.
Sources: Popular Woodworking (Bob Flexner), Fine Woodworking, US Patent 63,532 (Knapp, 1867), Chipstone Foundation, Winterthur, National Park Service, American Institute for Conservation, PBS Antiques Roadshow, CPSC, EPA, CDC.
Jonas is a fictional, AI-assisted host. The facts in this video come from the published sources above.
#antiquefurniture #antiquedresser #furniturerestoration
God keep you, friend. Jonas. Holmes County, Ohio.