1930s Oak Desk, Restored

This has been one of the most time-consuming projects to date, but the moment I saw this darling of a desk from around 1930, so gorgeous and yet so badly treated, I knew I would not spare any time or effort to make it come to life again.
It has been stripped, treated, restored, reinforced and stained to create a nice contrast between the surfaces and the structure, in which I have let the solid oak show. The top surface was so damaged that I have added a new oak one. I have also replaced the lock on the top drawer, and the bottom surfaces of all the drawers too. You can check the section 'The making of' below for a detailed description of the whole process.

Now this industrial Art Deco desk is looking fresh, and ready to last for another 80 years or more!
Measures: 96cm long, 60cm wide, 74cm high. Four drawers (the one on top with lock) and a slide out tray on the right hand side.

THE MAKING OF
This is how the poor old desk looked like before the restoration: dark and badly treated! But it was worse than just the gloomy looks: the original surface had been covered with a disgraceful plywood board that had also suffered quite a bit -first thing to go!. Also, at some point someone decided to cut a piece of the right hand side part of the top surface, probably to fit another table next to it... such a lack of respect. The foot rest was barely standing, held by a couple of nails to the structure. And the drawers needed serious action too (see the last part of this chapter).
Ok, a LOT of work ahead, but this lovely piece of furniture totally deserves a second chance, so -shall we get to it?

STRIPPING THE OLD STAIN: It took me a few days, but it was worth the effort! After many hours of sanding up to the last crevice, the last picture shows a much nicer, lighter desk.
(Before all that, of course, I removed the plywood board and trimmed the right hand side of the top surface)

THE TRAY & FOOT REST: I had to cut the big, rusty nails that barely held the foot rest to be able to take it off and restore it. On the right, the tray in its original state: the back board was missing, so I was going to be able to trim the sides and use the solid oak bits to build a firm support for the foot rest. Good! 

The tray, once stripped -and the 'new' supports. Below, the foot rest already properly attached.

TREATING THE WOOD against wood worms (in the picture I was starting to wrap the whole piece up in plastic to let it cure for a few days), and then filling the little holes with wood filler paste.

STAINING AND VARNISHING: I used the traditional walnut stain (Brou de Noix), mixing the extract powder with water, as the base for the back and side panels, the slats on the right hand side and the drawer fronts. Then I applied a thin layer of darker water based varnish on top. Like this there is a nice contrast between the surfaces and their frames, left with their original oak colour but also protected with clear varnish. The whole piece was then polished to get a smooth, satin finish.

THE TOP SURFACE: I purchased a new solid oak board and rounded edges, and cut them to measure.

Once stained, I attached the edges to the brim of the original surface and fastened the new one on top, filling the gaps with woodfiller paste. Then I stained the surface with several thin layers (first Brou de Noix for the base, then darker varnish), applied with a big flat brush.

THE DRAWERS: they all needed new bottom boards and a general 'structural cleaning', as they had bits of wood and 'patches' that had been added to them through the years. I started by sanding off the old stain, and applying the new one in the front surfaces as shown before.

Then I removed the damaged bottom boards and all the clumsy extra bits.

Stained the new bottom surfaces to match the rest of the desk,

and mounted them all back again, this time in a clean way. The last step was to replace the lock on the top drawer for a new one. And that was it: finished, yay!