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John Polgar writes:
I got a phone call from a frantic person on Tuesday. He had
100 sets of hand carved rosewood nesting tables damaged
in transit. They had to get fixed and shipped out for Christmas
and he wanted to know if I could come out "today". I laughed!
Actually laughed on the phone and asked if he was kidding.
He said no he was serious. I apologized for laughing but we
just had the same thing we were finishing up for another client.
( 50 chairs from the mfr and none of them matched each other).
I told him there was no way I could do anything but look at
them when I got finished at the end of the day -- which I did.
All 45 sets needed work. 45 sets of 4!
I figured what I could do, formulated a plan of attack and took one set
to play with. Made arrangements to be back Friday in the morning.
The mfr. packed them too soon and the wax paper had stuck to
the outer table damaging the clear coat. On top of that, in transit
the container leaked and a number of them had water damage.
Some of them had the dreaded black stain down into the wood.
We arrived at the warehouse Friday morning and set up.
All the tables got a rag wash with toluene. The wax paper tops
were scrubbed with steel wool and toluene, then naphtha, then
when dry sanded with 220 tri-m free-cut. MLC red mahogany
and cinnamon were mixed and "faux" brushed in some areas
to replace the color/graining.
10 came to the shop for strip and refinish over the weekend.
Then all tables (180) got two coats MLC Krystal gloss without
a sealer or sanding between. Everything worked out.
170 done Friday and the others are being delivered right now.
My shoulder is about to fall off. I did the original demo to figure
a process & schedule, all the spraying and the 10 in the shop,
4 of my staff took care of everything else. I would love to get
these jobs EVERY day! These are featured in the National
Geographic Holiday catalog for this year.
Just wanted to share with Groop a saga of good fortune
when a job goes right! The one before and after pic was
on site, not refinished. The others I brought in were worse,
if you could imagine that.
John Polgar
Clearwater, FL
Tables everywhere! the warehouse had a huge vent fan
over the work area so onsite spraying was zero issue.
It took me 2 hours to spray two coats of clear
on 170 tables. My arm felt like falling off.
Before.
This one was done on site.
The 10 I refinished were worse if you could imagine.
After.
