CPR for a Little Hutch

This was a crazy piece to deal with! 
First of all it came to me by a circuitous route.  I spotted it back around December @ the SA.  I looked it over and felt that the price didn’t warrant the amount of work that I would have to put into.  So I walked away.  Fast forward about a month.  I was on a ‘scouting’ trip to the SA again and was talking to one of the employees about whether another piece would fit in my car.  It wouldn’t.  So he told me he had a piece in his truck that he had bought at the employee sale and thought that I might be interested in it.  Out to the parking lot we go.   It was the same piece I had pondered earlier.  So I bought it at a much reduced price.

It sat in my garage for another month or so (and was obviously  the victim of another spray painting project).


When I finally decided it was time to haul it out of storage and go to work, I questioned my sanity.   Not only were there veneer issues but the decorative wood appliques on the legs and top were cracked and missing.

I pondered just scraping it all off but thought I would try making a mold of one of the pieces that was intact because it really brought some charm to the piece.

Break out the Model Magic (I think that’s what it’s called.) I made a mold of one of the good pieces then peeled the mold off and let it dry for a few days.  (All the while giving serious consideration to making firewood out of this monster.)

I then put wood filler where appliques were missing and pressed on the mold and removed it right away.   I let it dry for a couple of hours. When dry, I then used a blade to shape it a little.


After much scraping, gluing, clamping, and molding, it was painted a made it’s way to the shop.   Although not perfect, the repairs turned out pretty good.  (Sorry no close-ups.  I guess I ran away from it as soon as I had the chance!)