Louis XV slant-front desk

The restoration of a lovely slant-front desk, or as it's called, began two weeks ago. Riesener in his memoirs of a "secretary to the grave".

As the restoration stage is finished and the varnishing has begun, I am taking the time to make a short summary.

Office description

Its frame is made of oak and fir, veneered with rosewood and violet wood. Furthermore, the drop-front features floral marquetry in boxwood, natural and stained maple, and hornbeam. The desk also has a large drawer in the frieze, surmounted by two smaller ones. Finally, the drop-front, held by brass hinges, reveals an interior of five drawers, with a secret pull-out in the center.

Moreover, this photo shows very well the original colours, which have remained protected from the light.

State report

Nothing too serious for the structure, apart from a very large crack on the right side, which deforms the facing by about 5 mm.

Besides the easily identifiable veneer gaps, the biggest problem, as is often the case, is the severe dehydration of the glue. This is clearly visible in the photos of the toilet seat and sides.

The Restoration

First, I filled the gaps with sawn rosewood and violetwood veneer, which had been previously scraped, sanded, filled, and oxidized. Then, I brought it to the correct thickness by removing material from the backing, according to the desired thickness for each graft.

Then I rehydrated the glue on all surfaces by infiltration. This method limits handling, which could further damage the furniture.

However, the drawer pull was a special case: too damaged to be rehydrated by infiltration. Now, I very rarely remove veneer, as it's a very traumatic process for a piece of furniture. But this was a case of extreme necessity: the drawer pull panel was completely warped and it no longer opened. Furthermore, the surface was small, so the operation was easy to control.

After reattaching all the veneers, I stripped the piece of furniture with a stripper specifically designed for furniture restoration. Then, I began filling the gaps with sandpaper, applying varnish, and doing the color touch-ups. Now, all that remains is to let the varnish cure between coats, a process that will take about a month.

Finally, this photo shows that the flower bulb was dyed blue. But dyeing veneer has never been easy. So, after cutting out the flower, the craftsman soaked the veneer in the dye. However, the bath wasn't long enough, so the dye didn't penetrate all the way through. This is evident from the saw marks, which retain the color, while excessive sanding has removed the surface layer of dye.

More to come in a few weeks….