Gaming table Help *LINK*
Gary Smyth
As Vito Corleone said “I want you to use all your powers and all your skills. I don’t want his Mother to see him like this".
I’ve had pretty good luck in furniture finds lately but Sunday I got my comeuppance. Custom built gaming table. Three surfaces – closed as a wall table, first leaf opens with a felt surface for dice and cards, and a third brass hinged leaf with inlaid checkerboard/chess, and backgammon. Underneath all a compartment for the game pieces.Nice table.
Marked underneath with metal lettering stamp, all caps, JAN HEUVEL W BURG VA. Jan Heuval was head cabinetmaker for decades in Colonial Williamsburg. Inside a brass plate.
PROBLEM: The gate leg is/was a wood hinge. Over the past years, the leg was stressed and the hinge knuckles, cracked and were broken off in at least four portions until I transported it home this Sunday. Even with extreme care the leg completely separated getting it out of the SUV. The hinge was part of the gate leg on one side and part of the apron on the other. Perhaps a design flaw as the hinge was destined to failure with years of opening and closing use (abuse) and weather changes etc. Someone did this table a great diservice by not paying attention.
How to fix? I don't have the skills for a matching new leg and a new apron. If I can find a suitable hinge in wood or brass I might be able to have a restorer mortise inset it with new supporting wood underneath and the finish then matched as closely as possible.
I don't know where to go on this. This may or may not be a somewhat important piece.
Problem solvers out there, opinions please.
https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/dailypress/obituary.aspx?n=johannes-j-heuvel&pid=756579