VV-XVII repair

[lakesideglenn]

Picking up a VV-XVII tomorrow that has a damaged leg. Anyone know how to repair this to make it more presentable? I don't have the missing piece. is it possible to mold some kind of patch?

[JohnM]

You need to plane the damaged area of the wood absolutely flat and glue and clamp another piece of mahogany to it. It may require blind doweling to hold it in place. The block of mahogany should be oversize. Sketch and/or rub the design onto tracing paper. Trace the design onto the raw mahogany by tracing over the tracing paper with carbon paper beneath it agains the wood. Get a pair of proper size calipers for point-to-point measuring and some sharp carving tools and sharpening stones and carve the mahogany block to match the opposite side. Sand, fill, sand, stain, sand, finish. Not saying this is easy, or for the faint of heart, but if you take deep breaths and take your time, and practice your moves on scrap, you can do it.

[lakesideglenn]

Thanks for the reply John. Turns out the person I was buying from decided not to hold it for me and sold it today....oh well!
I will keep your advice handy for future reference.
All the best to you!

[FloridaClay]

Sorry to hear you lost out on the machine. But yes, a cast to make a mold and creating a replacement piece from the mold is quite possible. I have seen it done with excellent results. Alas I don't know enough about the technique to give details, but I expect there is guidance out there on the net, or maybe even in some old posts here given that fixing bits of missing trim is something of a common problem.

Also I recently had my Credenza restored by a local antique restorer. It had several places on the bottom molding where termites had eaten out large holes. He used an epoxy to fill the holes and after he was done I can’t even find where they were.

I expect you really have to know what you are doing to get the finish exactly matching though, so not sure it is something I have the skills to take on personally.

Clay