RESTORATION PROJECT: Large Antique Campaign Writing Lap Desk | Walnut Wood from the Victorian Period (1837 to 1901) | Initial Cost $277.50 | Cost of all Restoration Materials, and Services Used During Restoration $140.00 | Restored Value $1000 to $1500
The desk was a magnificent piece purchased from the United Kingdom from Robert Morrison Antiques. It was originally destined to be listed for re-sale on my shops on Etsy and eBay, but fell in love with its beautiful wood grain, and its fine craftmanship. Decided to not only keep it as part of my own antique collection, but to restore it somewhat to its former glory.
Initially the writing slope/desk needed a couple things to get it back to working, and functional condition. The first step was a thorough cleaning inside and out – really it was a careful dusting and light polish. The desk has a lot of “nooks and crannies” had to use a mini vac to take out some of the larger particles but also used light tape and a mini air compressor to take out all fine particles.
The most noticeable detail that was missing from desk was keys for its two antique locks – one interior (on writing slope itself) and second on the exterior. Have used many antique locksmiths in the past to fashion new keys to these unique old locks. There are two locksmiths that my shops currently use to make keys or replace locks – 1) Greenwich Locksmiths – 56 7th Ave S NY NY 10014, 2) Able Lock Shop – 1100 Jericho Turnpike New Hyde Park NY 11040. In this case, I used the letter just for the convenience, literally minutes away without dealing with Manhattan traffic and parking issues. Matt is fantastic, professional, fairly priced, and handles matters quickly. In less than one week my “box” had two new keys, with decorative tassels provided by Expo International (Houston, TX).
These type of writing desks have been used, stored, or displayed for over hundreds of years. During this time the boxes have been moved around quite a bit. The next step was replacing the baize (or felt) to the base of box to protect furniture when in use or on display. This also protects the desk itself from harm, the old one had worn away and was barely functional. In this case, went with a “green option” – Eco-Friendly 100% Wool Felt in Black. This takes careful measuring, and precision cutting with a X-ACTO knife. The way I do it is to mark the felt with white wax pencil, and “cut away”. In this case, it takes a series of “cuts” to make baize look uniform (so wool felt doesn’t look sloppy after cutting). When applying wool to wood, used Aleene’s Original Quick Dry Tacky Glue. When spread glue on wool, use a plastic putty knife to spread evenly over surface. The new Baize looked awesome after drying, onto the next step.
During its many long years of use – the writing desk lost some of its brass exterior trim pieces. How do you replace these pieces without spending a ton of money? Luckily, there was one or two pieces of brass that were already dislodged and kept by previous box owner. Measured the thickness and grade of brass — and bought exact brass metal sheets from WireJewelry.com. Then took brass metal sheets to Fast Fix Jewelry Repair (chain stores that do mainly jewelry repair). They have the machinery in-house to make exact precision cuts to brass. Obviously careful measuring again is involved, but this way its pain free (not having to do these cuts by hand – or having to buy additional tools or machinery).
When you glue wood to brass, I tend to use Clear Gorilla Glue – strong glue with easy cleanup if there are “overruns”. In this case, I used weighted wood blocks on brass pieces so they dry and don’t warp. Just put the blocks right on top of pieces that needed replacement (waited exactly 24 hours and clean off any glue excess).
The last step was to replace the key escutcheon – again it was missing, and it was originally brass. My family originally owned a tannery and I thought leather might look great as an accent to box. Brass or Leather – Leather or Brass? Well, said what the heck, its going to mine and not for re-sell anytime soon – used leather. With exact measuring and hand cutting – the leather piece to me looked great! Used Titebond Original Wood glue (leather to wood). Waited for it to dry, and now have a newly restored box!
Normally wouldn’t recommend this – usually 99.9% replace original materials when restoring, this was a rare case!