{"id":28747,"date":"2025-10-21T23:20:38","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T22:20:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=28747"},"modified":"2025-10-22T09:00:57","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T08:00:57","slug":"workshop-diy-restoring-aulde-portable-writing-desk-pt-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=28747","title":{"rendered":"WORKSHOP\/DiY: Restoring Aulde Portable Writing Desk, Pt. II"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Back together.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Today, after an early morning shift, delivering in Peterboro\u2019, I continued working on the writing desk. Is it a bureau<\/em>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Things reached a frustrating impasse, regarding sourcing appropriate fabrics. I needed something that\u2019d work as hinges, as well as cloth for the base and the folding writing slope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Plastic weave tape.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Weights\u2026<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Mo\u2019 weights\u2026<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

My first attempt at \u2018fabric hinges\u2019, using some kind of woven plastic tape (from Storey\u2019s, in March), was an abject failure. I tried using wood glue to bond it, but that simply wouldn\u2019t adhere to the plastic. I wound up having to remove the \u2018tape\u2019, and clean up the glue residue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After lots of ringing around, trying to find local haberdashers with the right material, I eventually went to Ely. Looking to get better hinge material, and – hopefully – the green velvet for the folding writing surface. City Centre Cycles duly obliged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
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The old base.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Heat-gunned the finish.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Much wet n\u2019 dry scraping.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Tape on\u2019t crack.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Crack from underneath.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Wood-filler.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Cleaning up the base was a lot more work than anticipated. Firstly due to the ancient and very dusty fabric remnants, and secondly\/mostly, on account of the remains of a very<\/em> sticky adhesive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was also a crack to be dealt with. I thought about using two part epoxy. But I wound up plumping for plain ol\u2019 wood-filler. After all, the crack will be protected by and glued to a new baize cloth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
New green baize, underneath.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Better. But, alas, a bit of a balls up. I used spray adhesive. Which is effective but horrid. And, as can be seen above, one edge of the baize\/base doesn\u2019t quite align right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once this was done, I glued the new fabric flaps – using card or paper like material called buckram. I used spray adhesive again. This appears to have worked much<\/em> better. Certainly way better than the wood glue failure!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
New screws for old.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At this juncture it seemed appropriate to re-attach the two \u2018halves\u2019. I used all new screws. One screw had been a nightmare to remove. As a consequence the hole that was left was a bit oversized. A bit of cocktail stick, sanded down and tapped in to said orifice, made a workable plug.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Top: original (or old) material; bottom, new\/replacement.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Projects like this are usually plagued – at least in my experience – by minor irritations. Perhaps avoidable, with better planning and forethought? A significant one arose at the end of the day: the new green velvet for the writing slope wasn\u2019t sized correctly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was my own dumb fault, frankly. In taking the bureau apart, I\u2019d forgotten that the original cloth was a single piece. I\u2019d allowed myself to think I\u2019d be re-covering the two halves separately<\/em>\u2026 Doh!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This necessitates another<\/em> long trip to Ely – poss\u2019 prior to S&F tomorrow? – to buy an appropriately sized piece of cloth. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today, after an early morning shift, delivering in Peterboro\u2019, I continued working on the writing desk. Is it a bureau? Things reached a frustrating impasse, regarding sourcing appropriate fabrics. I needed something that\u2019d work as hinges, as well as cloth for the base and the folding writing slope. My first attempt at \u2018fabric hinges\u2019, using … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “WORKSHOP\/DiY: Restoring Aulde Portable Writing Desk, Pt. II”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"WORKSHOP\/DiY: Restoring Aulde Portable Writing Desk, Pt. II","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paGwUa-7tF","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28747"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28747"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28752,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28747\/revisions\/28752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}