Restoration - Nineteenth Century Sacrament Stand
This piece was manufactured in the 1860's in Utah and was used to serve the Sacrament in the Kaysville, Utah Tabernacle. Constructed of pine, it was originally painted and grained to imitate mahogany as is obvious with the bright orange base paint on the back of the doors. At some point in its history it was over grained to look like quarter-sawn white oak. The right end of the top had been cut off by 2 inches, probably to fit in a smaller space, this was replaced using similar materials. Repairs were done to the doors at the hinges and to the carcass at the hinge locations. The doors were constructed using Mortice and Tenon construction with blind wedges, this was only revealed when the repairs were done to the hinge side of one door. The two drawers are not dovetailed but a rabbet joint with glue and nails. The drawer fronts have a rabbit cut on the sides and the bottom and overlay the opening. The drawer bottoms are constructed of narrow boards with tongue and groove joints and the grain is oriented from front to back. The back of the piece is also covered with vertical boards with tongue and groove joints on their edged, then nailed on.
The piece measures: Width - 78 inches, Height - 43 ½ inches and Depth - 23 ½ inches.
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Showing
damage to the doors at the lower hinges, note animal damage as well as the
repairs done with nails. The nails only kept the broken pieces from getting
lost. Front view showing oak over graining.
Reverse
of doors showing original bright orange base paint for mahogany graining.
Nails were clinched over, they had to be straightened and driven out. I
used a pair of diagonal cutters to get under the clinched over nail head, then
placed the putty knife blade under the cutters to protect the soft pine and
straightened out the bent over ends of the nails.
Front
top of doors showing damage and missing wood. The arched toped doors are
common in the late 1860's. This piece has been repaired several times in its
past.
Showing
repairs to doors, door on top had split wood previously held with nails, the
fractures were cleaned, glued and clamped with plastic blocks and spring
clamps. The lower door had Dutchman's put into the edge to replaced
damaged and missing wood at the hinge areas.
Where
the damage was confined to just one edge, a double dovetail Dutchman of pine is
glued into place replacing the damaged or missing wood. It will be brought
to final shape and finished to match. The picture on the left is the piece
glued in and the one on the right is the piece brought to the final surface.
Close
up showing drawer front, door and side pillar details. Double split
turnings with double open or pierced brackets form architectural detail with
plinth and capital.