Restoring the chapel doors in Rudge
These doors look pretty terrible and some might think there only good for fire wood, even the client set fire to the right side all though it was by accident whilst having a go at burning off the paint and got distracted by a visitor, he then decided to let me do it.
Thick Paint
All though the door had been stripped at one time they never bothered with the moulding and over it’s 178 years the mouldings disappeared in layers of paint and filler but before I could do this properly I had to take the door apart.
Taking the door apart
I dug out my trusty steamer for the operation and drilled holes into the wedges on the tenons and steamed away it was quite satisfying seeing steam coming out of every nook and cranny. It was then left to brute force with my lump hammer to give quick sudden jolts to break the joint and away the stiles came.
Once one stile was off it was left for the other side whilst bashing (delicately prising) but needed a different approach, I managed to get to battens between the partially opened gap which allowed me to make a slightly less than half inch thick hardwood basher and tapped the tenons out. worked a treat.
to be continue to photo gallery here