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Bob Klein writes:

This 1890's oak rolltop desk was in need of some
extensive repair.  Replaced parts are the center of the
pigeonholes, four vertical pieces, one horizontal piece,
and one pencil holder.  Lots of regluing to the entire
desk including disassembly of the pigeon holes, upper
section of the desk, writing surface and drawer cases. 
There have been questions in GROOP regarding repair
to these tambours in the past which is the reason for
this post.  Hopefully it will help someone who has this
coming up in the future.

The tambour was stripped of the finish.  Next the old
brittle canvas was removed and the slats scraped and
numbered, **it is important to keep them in the same
order**.  I used brown duck cloth for the new backing
for a couple of reasons, one, I did not want to order
canvas; two, the duct cloth works better, flexes better
and does not show the white line between the wood
slats.  I mixed 135 and 251 hide glue in equal amounts
(193 gram strength), added about a five count of
glycerin and a double dash of table salt.  The reason for
mixing the two glues and adding the salt was to have
more open time.  The glycerin was added to enhance
flexibility and aid penetration.  The cloth was nailed to
the work table and misted with water to relax the
cloth.  Reference or grid lines were drawn being careful
to have them parallel and at right angle to the vertical
line--the wood nailed was my left side border and the
lines were right angle to that.

I applied glue only to the tambour and pressed and
wiggled it into the cloth one by one watching the
reference lines and adjusting slightly when needed.  It
took about 45 minutes to and hour to lay the slats once
everything was set up.

The desk belongs to the fifty+ year old son who got it
from his father (82) who got it from his father.  The
father and son came in today to see it.  It felt good, the
son just stared and the father lovingly rubbed his hand
over the surfaces and smiled.  Made my day!!!  Truly
one of the reasons we are in this business.

Hope this helps someone repair tambours more easily.

bobklein
pensacolafl












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