Bonefolderol? A Question on Desktops

Can't help much

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>Seems to me Fine Woodworking had an article on leather inserts on desktops some years back. If you've got access to the magazines, you might check the online index at www.taunton.com.

Yes

Garrett in Victoria

>Challenging project.

I have a full-size snooker table. 3M 77 is what's used to 'tack" the felt along the edges of the slate, and staples are then driven into the wooden 'tack strip' below. I used the same material on a smaller table without staples, and it held well. The felt can be peeled off without difficulty.

Cheers, Garrett

Re: bad news, good news, bad news

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>You've got a better memory, and more FWW history than I do.

Looking at Taunton's index, an article you might be suggesting is in Issue #76, which predates my subscription, which started at about issue # 110. As luck would have it, I picked up a copy of #76 down in Maryland, one bitterly cold morning in March, while my misplaced cup of coffee slowly froze over on some other tailgator's table. I looked up that article, on an extremely functional drop front campaign chest, only to find that it assumed I already knew just what I am most unsure of. Also, the writing surface was leather, not felt, but I think the simplifying assumption there was my fault. I did learn something useful, however: If someone ever asks me about Bermuda dovetails, I will run, not walk, far away from the discussion.

OK, back to the index... Taunton suggested Issue #129. Nope, that cute trick had to do with installing golf balls inside a drawer.

That exhausted the promising articles in the FWW index. There were a few other possibilities, but they were way older than my reference library.

Thanks for the suggestion, anyway.

What I did

Jim Reed @ Tallahassee

>Faced with the same problem, I once covered an antique desk's felt top with green poster board cut to fit. Pretty cheesy repair, but it looked good and lasted for years. On another table, I left the antique pink felt because it looked so *antique*. It was edged with a 3/8" leather strip. I guess my recommendation is to leave it for *charm* if at all possible.

Why felt?

Jim Reed @ Tallahassee

>another question is why felt??? My guess is that it made a better writing surface for ink pens. Not very practical in today's world.

Re: Bonefolderol? A Question on Desktops

Doug in Leawood KS

>I am NOT experienced in this, but I am pretty sure the original would have been glued in place with hide glue, then trimmed with a knife (these days a utility knife or X-acto knife would be perfect.) If you don't have any hide glue handy, you could get Knox gelatin at the grocery store or use wallpaper paste. A sheet of plyw**d,cut to fit and weighted down should prevent bubbles.

Let me repeat: I have not done this, but it would certainly be reversible if you didn't like the result.

Good luck.

Doug

Re: Why felt?

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>ONLY because that was what was on it originally, and we need to do something about the mess that is left of it. Leather would suffer under the use of a ball point pen, as well, wouldn't it? Did your poster board fold in the middle, at the joint between the fixed bottom and the drop front? If so, how idd it hold up at the fold?

Re: Bonefolderol? A Question on Desktops

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>I have a hide glue pot, and also liquid hide glue (almost universally disparaged on this forum) which I use for resticking loose veneer. An off-forum response noted a technique used by Mack Headley, who also used hot hide glue, and then reheated the surface with an iron, starting from the center, to flatten it and squeeze out any air bubbles. He also cut it at the edges with a knife.

It seems that cutting the edges of felt with a knife, to match the existing rabbet, would be a lot easier than matching the edge of stiffer posterboard.

Re: Bonefolderol? A Question on Desktops

Patrick Gibbons, Houston, TX

>William, Sizing the felt before gluing it into the recess sounds like the best way to go. Cutting the felt to size after it is put into the recess may be risky; your knife could cut and mar the surface of the wood. Here is a trick for doing that easily.

1)Cut a piece of scrap to fit the recess perfectly. This is your pattern.

2)Cut a piece of felt oversized.

3)Lay the felt onto another piece of scrap that is larger than the felt by an inch or two.

4)Place the pattern over the felt forming a sandwich.

5)With a razor blade, cut the felt using the pattern as an edge to cut up against, much the same way one cuts against a square with a marking knife.

6)The felt should be sized to perfectly match the recess. When I have glued felt, I have found it to be slightly stretchy so that any small gap can be filled by stretching the felt.

One More Thing

Patrick Gibbons, Houston, TX

>When gluing the felt in, I found that a better appearance of the edge was obtained by tucking the edge of the felt into the recess. I used a large screwdriver but the thought occured to me that a putty knife or a plastic ice scraper used on car windshields or one of those cheap wooden cooking spatulas would be better. By using an edge of some sort pressed down against the felt and held against the wood you can tuck the edge over, it sort of rolls over, and rounds the appearance of the felt giving it a stuffed look. Indeed, if the felt is a bit oversized (about 1/64" or less) it works easier and looks better. This should be done when the glue underneath is tacky and provides some tooth to the surface.

Re: Bonefolderol? A Question on Desktops

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>Thanks, Patrick. No neat tricks for making the pattern? I guess that has to be done by successive approximation, but easier, since the pattern is stiff.

Traditionally

Sam Simpson

>Hi Y'all,

William, traditionally the baize would be glued with flour paste. A good quality wallpaper paste would do today.

Size the wood prior to the actual laying of the felt, so that you can keep your paste thin. (apply paste to wood not felt) Cut your felt to size and lay it as accurately as possible. There will be plenty of open time to tease it into place and attain good margins. Don't get it too tight in the middle. There is often preexisting shrinkage of the tops causing a bowed edge in the center of the open felt top. This needs a little slack or it will wear prematurely.

I have reworked a couple that were glued with hide glue. Not the way to go in my opinion. There is a risk of bleed through of the adhesive, no matter what type you use, and I find the risk greatest with hide glue. Especially if it is found necessary to reheat the glue for alignment attempts.

Unless you are going to be a stickler for total authenticity, even to the point of finding historically accurate vegetable dye colours, I would encourage you to go with your idea of using 3M77 for the job. It offers the best chance of a clean and neat job. As you have anticipated, your only problem will be in trimming without marring the surrounding surfaces. Your sloyd knife will probably be most useful here. Once seated into the edge grove it will follow without a problem.

Regards Sam Simpson.

Re: Traditionally

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>Thanks, Sam. The piece is not valuable enough to go to the effort of total authenticity, or at least the customer is not willing to pay for it at this time.

When you say size, do you mean preapply a thin coat of the paste and let it dry, before another coat of paste and the felt? Or should I size with something else, e.g., shellac?

You discuss the advantages of open time with flour paste, but then suggest the 3M. With the 3M, it seems like there will be no open time, however, so I guess you are discussing two completely different techniques, right?

I haven't seen you around in a while. It's good to see you back. I hope you've been well. Maybe, off riding all summer?

Poster

Jim Reed @ Tallahassee

>I used poster board on a ladies writing desk that had a large single piece top. If I were doing a writing flap with a hinge, I would use two pieces. I do not think the gap in the middle would matter because few people write on large single sheets of paper anymore.

Re: Bonefolderol? A Question on Desktops

Rob in Kansas

>William,

Just a thought...what about going to a local hobby store's framing department and get suede matboard. It will look like the original felt but yet have a little more body to it to help with ease of writing. It will also be easier to cut to fit the joint. I know you can get some that is rag matboard which is acid free,archival quality, and also a colored core so it doesn't show.

Haven't thought it all the way thru, but I'll throw it out there for what it's worth.

Re: Bonefolderol? A Question on Desktops

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>Interesting, but my guess is that is a bit thicker than the rabbet at the edge. Also, it has to be able to fold in the middle, many, many times. This is where the felt or baize has a major advantage over all the thicker paper or cardboard based materials. suede matboard would certainly make a good material for lining boxes and drawers.