The Most DAMAGED and ROTTEN Dresser I've ever seen! Can I restore it?

[Music] foreign [Music] I hope you enjoyed this dramatic intro this by far is the worst piece of furniture I've ever seen in my life and you will see in a minute how bad it was I didn't actually pick this for myself this is part of a really fun challenge that I'm doing with David from Mayfield's Restorations so we decided to challenge each other and pick something that would be very difficult for that person to do something with and this is what David got for me I actually had to drive quite far and I got it from a place that looked like something from a horror movie everything was falling apart everything was just rotten and eaten by woodworms and my only plan was to actually make it usable but enough of this so David is someone I've become friends with over DIY and furniture and he's a lovely guy from the UK and I'll link his video at the end of this one so please make sure you see his version of the story and his project enjoy the video all right don't worry I'll make you beautiful this was the funniest part of the project because the drawer bottom was so rotten that I literally just put my finger through it and you can see all the holes from woodworms in case you're wondering you should not be able to break that plywood with your fingers okay [Music] even though this chest of drawers was actually an antique the hardware only it was very cheap and very poor quality and I was not going to keep it foreign piece shuttered when I was removing the drawer bottom so I glued all the pieces together unfortunately the wood worm damage was so bad I had to spray pretty much the whole chest of drawers and you'll see me use this treatment throughout the video foreign hi David how are you mate hi buddy I'm good how are you I'm just calling to say a quick thank you for this lovely piece of furniture that you got for me it's falling apart I literally put my finger through the drawer bottom and um I don't know if I can save it I really hope that you like that Mint Condition quality flower power piece that I picked for you I'm really pleased you like the piece that I picked for you but I've no doubt you will definitely be able to save it mate I'm not too sure whether I'd use the word like the piece you've chosen for me yeah it's something that I've not wouldn't pick for myself but it's purple it's got a lot of flowers on it and hopefully I'll be able to do something with it so it's definitely a challenge so thank you very much for picking that for me oh I'm so glad you like it I knew you would anyhow I'm looking forward to um seeing what you can do with it take care and um best of luck I've no doubt you'll do something amazing with it but uh we'll catch up we'll catch up later on in the week okay cheers buddy see you later bye thanks [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] I was thinking of some funny comments to insert in here but I don't really know what to say [Music] [Music] as always huge thank you to all of you beautiful generous people who support me via buy me coffee or by hitting the super thanks button or by using my links in the description that helps a lot and I really appreciate it foreign so I wouldn't normally clean a piece like this with lots of water and soap but because this was absolutely disgusting and it really needed a good clean and the sun was out so I scrubbed it really well and I left it outside to dry and my fairy Apprentice came by to make sure I did a proper job [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] as you can see the legs were really rotten and instead of replacing small bits here and there I just cut them off and I had a good idea what to do instead [Music] good foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign as I was feeling some Crux and Imperfections in the top shop supervisor came by to check on the progress and get a quick cuddle from me at this point I was actually thinking that the veneer on the sides of this dresser was actually savable but as you will see in a minute I was wrong foreign and this is actually above the repair that I just made as I was inspecting the veneer I realized that pretty much the whole piece was not glued on and see how easily it came off just with my fingers so I had to remove it foreign half of the jewelry Stoppers were missing so I made new ones and I replaced them and then I decided instead of just putting veneer on the sides because of the damage I went to pick up some Thin plywood with veneer on it already just to give it some extra structural support foreign [Music] plywood look great but it also looked brand new so I decided to age it with some tea and coffee stains this is just a natural technique of coloring or aging wood and you can basically use it instead of regular stains and it's very cheap [Music] ah because this chest of drawers was from the early 1900s it wasn't exactly straight it did take some tweaking until I got the panels right if you're enjoying this video so far you can subscribe for more content like this this is completely free unlike some people think and also share the love with David and do check out his channel and his video I'll link it in the end screens so right after this video go and see his are you inspecting my project huh do you approve [Music] foreign by now that this piece was in a very bad shape and because of the woodworm damage I wanted to do something to make sure it would be preserved and strengthened for the next 50 years this is why I decided to use very old Japanese wood burning technique on the carcass of this dresser you basically torch the wood which preserves it and makes it more resistant to moisture and it also kills any wood worms that I didn't manage to kill with the spray and this is me testing the stains that I made so the first on the left is tea the middle one is coffee and the third one is basically a mix of both it doesn't really show on camera but they looked quite different and the more you apply the deeper the color is I decided to go with the tea and this is what it looked like when it's still wet I applied some oxalic acid to the top of the dresser because there was a big stain and I warmed up some brown glue to re-glue all the joints on the drawers because they were loose if you watch my videos If you see me send things to perfection this was not the case I really wanted this chest of drawers to have a rustic beat up Vibe but at the same time look elegant and refreshed so I actually made an effort to make sure that I did not make it look new these are the cast iron Wheels I decided to put in instead of the legs [Music] this is what the panels look like when the stain was dry and I was quite happy with the color but didn't quite match the rest so I dry brushed some black wax just to make them look a bit closer to the rest oh [Music] as you remember the drawer bottom was eaten by wood worms so I made a new one [Music] foreign [Music] the wood filler that I use to fill the cracks didn't quite look like the rest of the wood on the top so I used some stain to help it blend in [Music] I know what you're thinking this looks white but before you start typing in the comments just trust the process and just wait for the final results because this chest of drawers had lots of locks I thought it would be really nice to actually have a working key so I looked online and I found just the right guy [Music] this guy's family used to have an auction house and he had hundreds of keys well may I say it took a while to find the right one but I did day to day three day four to tie all the sides together I applied a little bit of black wax on the top and the drawers as well but ever so slightly and then I use natural beeswax and I covered the entire chest of drawers with it inside out behind everywhere this will allow me to protect and moisturize the wood in all the areas where I didn't apply the hard Works oil so this project is almost finished and wow it's been so much work but also so much fun hands down the most enjoyable project and collaboration I've ever done please guys do me a favor go over to David's Channel subscribe like comment he's a great guy and has a very nice content if you enjoy my videos I'm sure you'll love his channel and before I show you the final results this is his reaction I have all I've just been looking at those uh those pictures you sent me of the piece you finished um I am suitably impressed I knew you'd be able to do something with it but I didn't think you'd make it as nice as you are I think it's a stunning piece of furniture um definitely a credit to your talent buddy it's absolutely amazing well done pal and I knew you could do it and for the two of you who care I turn all the screws in the same direction you're welcome foreign [Music] foreign

Channel: Flippingdrawers

Views: 624,669

Keywords: dresser, chest of drawers, furniture

Id: wQnZh2nr4xE

Length: 24min 46sec (1486 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 26 2023