Duncan Phyfe Restoration

Here is a Duncan Phyfe Revival china cabinet I had the pleasure of restoring a while back. It was made of poplar with elements in mahogany veneer. The Duncan Phyfe pieces have always been very much in demand and never seem to go out of style. In fact, you still see it in new furniture stores today. This particular china cabinet was probably made in the 1940s.

Apparently this old girl had seen a little weather, or was possibly stored somewhere damp for a long time. She had a lot of water damage to the inside walls.

Here is a close-up of the veneer peeling off from the water damage.

I put a birch plywood overlay on the inside walls to cover up the peeling veneer.

I had to do it on one entire side of the cabinet. I knew I could never buy the right color stain to match, so I made my own red stain.

Here is the basic shell with the staining completed and 1 coat of polyurethane applied.

This is one of the doors with mahogany veneer after applying polyurethane.

Originally there were routed grooves in the doors which were painted black. I taped off the grooves and painted them black again using acrylic paint and an artists brush. I then put another coat of poly on the entire door including the grooves.

Here is the crown and finial, nearing completion.



A close-up for you.

I removed the wooden lacework from the glass doors, along with the glass, in order to get everything back in pristine condition.

Everything got at least 2 coats of poly. A few areas like the doors got 3.

Completed and ready for another 50 years or more.





I love the simple elegance of Duncan Phyfe furniture.





What do you think?

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