FOLLOW THE RESTORATION: 1890's "whisker" Edison Home Lid
Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2014 10:21 pm
I will preface this thread by saying that I am a sucker for an early Edison Home. Surely many of you have followed me through the skeletal Home renovation, and other ambitious restorations, but this one is a project that I not only SHELVED, but stared at in passing, contemplating if it could be done, and how the results would look.
The Edison Home, to me, is a beautifully styled and executed 1890's machine. Its shape, its badging....everything about it is just fascinating to me. The subtle design changes from year to year, all in the name of improving what started out as an underpowered and fragile machine. So, this lid came into my life.
It has TWO features which I just can't pass by. The earlier decals were mounted higher on the lid, in a location where the lid handle would unfortunately make contact with them, and the decals had slight differences. I consider them more elegant. The biggest difference is the cross hashing in the shaded areas of the banner. The earliest decals had "whiskers," clearly defined. The majority of surviving examples have very fine lined shaded areas. Here is a comparison.
EARLY:
LATER:
Not only does this lid have the early whiskers, but just to the right of center above the banner, there is printed (in reverse) "P.110".
Well. I finally decided to do something about this lid. And here is why. It has damage......damage very close to the original decal, and also on a curved surface. My FAVOURITE KIND OF REPAIR. (do you sense the sarcasm?)
Here's what I'm up against:
The lid is filthy. I had to clean the decal to see how savable it was, and to also get an idea of the wood grain I was working with. So, some spot cleaning was in order.
I will start by gluing in stages. Starting with the end panel, getting everything supported, then re-bonding the layers of extant wood until it is solid and stable, before filling in the 3 layers of wood: the underside veneer, the center "junk wood" layer (maybe made of walnut veneer) and then the top layer of finished veneer. Here is my donor lid (top).
Welcome to the restoration. I hope to post updates as work progresses. Hopefully, it turns out ok. When making spot repairs like this, I often worry about the wood grain contrasting too much.
The Edison Home, to me, is a beautifully styled and executed 1890's machine. Its shape, its badging....everything about it is just fascinating to me. The subtle design changes from year to year, all in the name of improving what started out as an underpowered and fragile machine. So, this lid came into my life.
It has TWO features which I just can't pass by. The earlier decals were mounted higher on the lid, in a location where the lid handle would unfortunately make contact with them, and the decals had slight differences. I consider them more elegant. The biggest difference is the cross hashing in the shaded areas of the banner. The earliest decals had "whiskers," clearly defined. The majority of surviving examples have very fine lined shaded areas. Here is a comparison.
EARLY:
LATER:
Not only does this lid have the early whiskers, but just to the right of center above the banner, there is printed (in reverse) "P.110".
Well. I finally decided to do something about this lid. And here is why. It has damage......damage very close to the original decal, and also on a curved surface. My FAVOURITE KIND OF REPAIR. (do you sense the sarcasm?)
Here's what I'm up against:
The lid is filthy. I had to clean the decal to see how savable it was, and to also get an idea of the wood grain I was working with. So, some spot cleaning was in order.
I will start by gluing in stages. Starting with the end panel, getting everything supported, then re-bonding the layers of extant wood until it is solid and stable, before filling in the 3 layers of wood: the underside veneer, the center "junk wood" layer (maybe made of walnut veneer) and then the top layer of finished veneer. Here is my donor lid (top).
Welcome to the restoration. I hope to post updates as work progresses. Hopefully, it turns out ok. When making spot repairs like this, I often worry about the wood grain contrasting too much.
