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Victorian-era Gentleman's Writing Slope
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<p>[QUOTE="Shangas, post: 49684, member: 360"]Yes. Another one.</p><p><br /></p><p>I bought this thing at least a month ago from a lovely lady who lived near the coast. She was selling it and I found out about it online. She knows I love this stuff. We got in contact and after a lot of umming-and-aahing-and-hmmming, we figured out how to make the deal.</p><p><br /></p><p>I went down to pick it up, paid a very good price for it, then took it back home.</p><p><br /></p><p>The box was VERY rough. VERY VERY rough. If it was much worse, I would not have bothered buying it. But I saw it as a chance to get a cheap box and fix it up for myself to use.</p><p><br /></p><p>It took me a while to fix this thing. The box was so far gone that it was almost a throw-out. But if I could fix it, then I would have a nice, rough-looking antique writing slope which I could use, without worrying that I'd break it. So I took a few photographs of it, and then got to work.</p><p><br /></p><p>Here's the BEFORE shots:</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfp1/t31.0-8/10981988_1565865800338567_4357068550661306310_o.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>As you can see, the exterior is in pretty bad shape. It's been knocked around and everything. But I decided to buy it for the following reasons:</p><p><br /></p><p>1. It was cheap.</p><p>2. It was structurally sound.</p><p>3. It's good fixer-upper practice.</p><p>4. I can do a complete refurb if I want to, and it won't hurt the value (there's hardly any left, so what the hell does that matter??)</p><p>5. It had the ORIGINAL INKWELL (And those are damn hard to find).</p><p><br /></p><p>Anyway. Here's the interior...</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/r270/10347555_1565865837005230_5793810032149670662_n.jpg?oh=23814d3c81f7c7972335bb92dcdd7013&oe=55AA640F&__gda__=1438204445_32009c045f5973a80d3a47c95348b39e" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>The Aide Memoire was dried up, cracked, peeling, crumbling, ripping off. It was just cheap card-stock cut and glued on, anyway. Saving it was absolutely not possible. It fell apart completely when I was getting it home.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/1455914_1565865953671885_6533454721583432991_n.jpg?oh=a52ca0bdd817e41b91b0155644a4236e&oe=559DA628&__gda__=1438198425_8a04367535086a6eeed6c04070dd2217" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>Absolutely EVERYTHING in this box was broken in one way or another. That included the organiser...</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfp1/v/t1.0-9/1505264_1565866000338547_4186731397323638501_n.jpg?oh=e96ed57a051cad4cf15cd60df7ad0d31&oe=55A62DBF&__gda__=1437844278_1c036c2a6763787a1b7a0c4d9e19bcdf" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>...the accessories caddy...</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfp1/t31.0-8/10983469_1565866087005205_6790950121367225218_o.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>...the writing-slope...God...</p><p><br /></p><p>The thing was a total mess. Anyway, once I got home, I got to work.</p><p><br /></p><p>The first thing was to VERY carefully pull apart the inkstand.</p><p><br /></p><p>The inkstand was designed to slot neatly into place. You have all these pieces of wood that just go pop-pop-pop-pop-pop!! And they just slot into place. No glue. No nails. No screws.</p><p><br /></p><p>Unfortunately, some idiot decided that this wasn't enough. And they glued it together.</p><p><br /></p><p>Over time, the glue dried and crumbled, and some other bright spark decided to pull it apart...and broke it. And then they tried to fix THAT and it just...yeah. Disaster on top of disaster.</p><p><br /></p><p>So using a very sharp knife, I CAREFULLY pried the inkstand apart, sliding everything open. Cutting off the glued bits of wood and laying everything out.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://scontent-sin.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/t31.0-8/10855150_1565865790338568_6797152083798824536_o.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>I glued together the broken bits of wood. Then I simply slipped everything back in as it should be. I used fine-grit steel wool to scrape away all the black ink-stains that were all over the wood. That was a result of the leaking inkwell.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://scontent-sin.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/t31.0-8/10991699_1565865773671903_5386789573143704240_o.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>Gluing the broken bits back together...</p><p><br /></p><p>Then I put it back together after the gluing and the cleaning.</p><p><br /></p><p>Next step was to cut away the damaged leather on the accessories caddy. It was beyond my ability to repair it, so I decided to just try and make the best of a bad situation.</p><p><br /></p><p>After that, I had to replace the Aide Memoire. It was SHOT. Completely ruined. Pointless trying to salvage it in any way at all. So I pried off the old card...</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://scontent-sin.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/l/t31.0-8/10989254_1565866123671868_924371057249406967_o.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>...made tracings...</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://scontent-sin.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/t31.0-8/10974534_1565866167005197_5405469314542128590_o.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>...then cut out, and put down new card-stock to replace the old stuff.</p><p><br /></p><p>Next came repairing the organiser. This was a bit easier. I managed to use the remaining bits of wood...</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfa1/t31.0-8/10848544_1565866020338545_3148930072525067801_o.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>To trace and make copies...</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://scontent-sin.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/11021129_1567272773531203_6912746672196783158_n.jpg?oh=997ae9f1bed7db624ffa216290339868&oe=559D84E4" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>Then I just glued it in and slotted everything together...</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/v/t1.0-9/10989140_1567272816864532_924830432995678113_n.jpg?oh=275d9c562cacab174ccdef6e7236de28&oe=55BE1820&__gda__=1436825340_856c3ff841fdcf8ee6535ab6325acba6" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>Next came the lock. I couldn't find a single key that on its own, would operate the lock. So I pulled the lock out, broke it open, cleaned it, and then tested and filed down a key to operate the lock...</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://scontent-sin.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xft1/v/t1.0-9/1453254_1587109244880889_8202762932043867768_n.jpg?oh=0dd8ab88c2d5d699dcc71465ea797b8f&oe=55A4756E" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>After that, I had to pull apart the inkwell. </p><p><br /></p><p>The inkwell is made of three parts: </p><p><br /></p><p>Glass bottle.</p><p>Brass collar.</p><p>Brass cap. </p><p><br /></p><p>The collar is glued to the glass neck of the bottle with some sort of filler-adhesive, which had dried up completely, cracked and crumbled. </p><p><br /></p><p>I pulled it apart, chipped, sanded and scraped away all that crap, and then glued it back together with epoxy. This glues the collar back onto the bottle. It also creates a watertight seal. </p><p><br /></p><p>I replaced the seal in the underside of the cap, let all the glue set, and then filled it with ink and tipped it over. </p><p><br /></p><p>Not a DROP leaked out. Perfect!! </p><p><br /></p><p>I then reassembled everything, put it back. And the result is...[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Shangas, post: 49684, member: 360"]Yes. Another one. I bought this thing at least a month ago from a lovely lady who lived near the coast. She was selling it and I found out about it online. She knows I love this stuff. We got in contact and after a lot of umming-and-aahing-and-hmmming, we figured out how to make the deal. I went down to pick it up, paid a very good price for it, then took it back home. The box was VERY rough. VERY VERY rough. If it was much worse, I would not have bothered buying it. But I saw it as a chance to get a cheap box and fix it up for myself to use. It took me a while to fix this thing. The box was so far gone that it was almost a throw-out. But if I could fix it, then I would have a nice, rough-looking antique writing slope which I could use, without worrying that I'd break it. So I took a few photographs of it, and then got to work. Here's the BEFORE shots: [IMG]https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfp1/t31.0-8/10981988_1565865800338567_4357068550661306310_o.jpg[/IMG] As you can see, the exterior is in pretty bad shape. It's been knocked around and everything. But I decided to buy it for the following reasons: 1. It was cheap. 2. It was structurally sound. 3. It's good fixer-upper practice. 4. I can do a complete refurb if I want to, and it won't hurt the value (there's hardly any left, so what the hell does that matter??) 5. It had the ORIGINAL INKWELL (And those are damn hard to find). Anyway. Here's the interior... [IMG]https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/r270/10347555_1565865837005230_5793810032149670662_n.jpg?oh=23814d3c81f7c7972335bb92dcdd7013&oe=55AA640F&__gda__=1438204445_32009c045f5973a80d3a47c95348b39e[/IMG] The Aide Memoire was dried up, cracked, peeling, crumbling, ripping off. It was just cheap card-stock cut and glued on, anyway. Saving it was absolutely not possible. It fell apart completely when I was getting it home. [IMG]https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/1455914_1565865953671885_6533454721583432991_n.jpg?oh=a52ca0bdd817e41b91b0155644a4236e&oe=559DA628&__gda__=1438198425_8a04367535086a6eeed6c04070dd2217[/IMG] Absolutely EVERYTHING in this box was broken in one way or another. That included the organiser... [IMG]https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfp1/v/t1.0-9/1505264_1565866000338547_4186731397323638501_n.jpg?oh=e96ed57a051cad4cf15cd60df7ad0d31&oe=55A62DBF&__gda__=1437844278_1c036c2a6763787a1b7a0c4d9e19bcdf[/IMG] ...the accessories caddy... [IMG]https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfp1/t31.0-8/10983469_1565866087005205_6790950121367225218_o.jpg[/IMG] ...the writing-slope...God... The thing was a total mess. Anyway, once I got home, I got to work. The first thing was to VERY carefully pull apart the inkstand. The inkstand was designed to slot neatly into place. You have all these pieces of wood that just go pop-pop-pop-pop-pop!! And they just slot into place. No glue. No nails. No screws. Unfortunately, some idiot decided that this wasn't enough. And they glued it together. Over time, the glue dried and crumbled, and some other bright spark decided to pull it apart...and broke it. And then they tried to fix THAT and it just...yeah. Disaster on top of disaster. So using a very sharp knife, I CAREFULLY pried the inkstand apart, sliding everything open. Cutting off the glued bits of wood and laying everything out. [IMG]https://scontent-sin.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/t31.0-8/10855150_1565865790338568_6797152083798824536_o.jpg[/IMG] I glued together the broken bits of wood. Then I simply slipped everything back in as it should be. I used fine-grit steel wool to scrape away all the black ink-stains that were all over the wood. That was a result of the leaking inkwell. [IMG]https://scontent-sin.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/t31.0-8/10991699_1565865773671903_5386789573143704240_o.jpg[/IMG] Gluing the broken bits back together... Then I put it back together after the gluing and the cleaning. Next step was to cut away the damaged leather on the accessories caddy. It was beyond my ability to repair it, so I decided to just try and make the best of a bad situation. After that, I had to replace the Aide Memoire. It was SHOT. Completely ruined. Pointless trying to salvage it in any way at all. So I pried off the old card... [IMG]https://scontent-sin.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/l/t31.0-8/10989254_1565866123671868_924371057249406967_o.jpg[/IMG] ...made tracings... [IMG]https://scontent-sin.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/t31.0-8/10974534_1565866167005197_5405469314542128590_o.jpg[/IMG] ...then cut out, and put down new card-stock to replace the old stuff. Next came repairing the organiser. This was a bit easier. I managed to use the remaining bits of wood... [IMG]https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfa1/t31.0-8/10848544_1565866020338545_3148930072525067801_o.jpg[/IMG] To trace and make copies... [IMG]https://scontent-sin.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/11021129_1567272773531203_6912746672196783158_n.jpg?oh=997ae9f1bed7db624ffa216290339868&oe=559D84E4[/IMG] Then I just glued it in and slotted everything together... [IMG]https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/v/t1.0-9/10989140_1567272816864532_924830432995678113_n.jpg?oh=275d9c562cacab174ccdef6e7236de28&oe=55BE1820&__gda__=1436825340_856c3ff841fdcf8ee6535ab6325acba6[/IMG] Next came the lock. I couldn't find a single key that on its own, would operate the lock. So I pulled the lock out, broke it open, cleaned it, and then tested and filed down a key to operate the lock... [IMG]https://scontent-sin.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xft1/v/t1.0-9/1453254_1587109244880889_8202762932043867768_n.jpg?oh=0dd8ab88c2d5d699dcc71465ea797b8f&oe=55A4756E[/IMG] After that, I had to pull apart the inkwell. The inkwell is made of three parts: Glass bottle. Brass collar. Brass cap. The collar is glued to the glass neck of the bottle with some sort of filler-adhesive, which had dried up completely, cracked and crumbled. I pulled it apart, chipped, sanded and scraped away all that crap, and then glued it back together with epoxy. This glues the collar back onto the bottle. It also creates a watertight seal. I replaced the seal in the underside of the cap, let all the glue set, and then filled it with ink and tipped it over. Not a DROP leaked out. Perfect!! I then reassembled everything, put it back. And the result is...[/QUOTE]
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