Antique Oak Wardrobe

The doors on this wardrobe had a number of problems. The door pulls were not original and one had a broken pull handle. When I removed them, I found the original 1/2 inch hole the a tenon for a wooden pull would have fit into. This had to be plugged before the new hardware could be installed.

Both solid wood door panels were split. I removed them and repaired the splits with hide glue and clamps before they were stripped.

The mortises in the doors and cabinet sides were cut to fit rounded corner hinges. Someone had evidently tried to repair some hinge problems in the past and cut some of the mortises again to move the hinges in a little. Since I couldn't locate the same hinges, I replaced them with the same size square butt hinges. The mortises had to be cut square to fit the new hinges. I filled all the existing screw holes with wood dowel stock before installing the new hinges.

Below is a list of thumbnail photos. By clicking on a thumbnail you will see close up photos of some of the details in this project. Use the "Back" button on your browser to return to this page.

	This shot gives you an idea of what the doors looked like before refinishing.
	Although hard to see here, this shows one of the splits in one of the door panels.
	Here are the two door panels after the splits have been repaired and then stripped.
	This shot shows the two door frames and the center frame after stripping and sanding.
	On the left is one of the old hinges and on the right is one of the new. I am preparing to square up the existing hinge mortises to install the new hinges.
	Using a sharp knife and a chisel, the area for the new hinge is outlined and ready to cut.
	The new mortise is cut and ready to install the hinge.
	New hinges fits like a glove.


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