Can't believe all the negative comments. A quick review showed that the client was on both a cost and time restraint. Given those restrictions, the repair was very well done, and it will last easily for a further 25 plus years. Anything purchased (including services) is always relevant to the amount a person is willing or able to pay. Bottom line - this was a quality repair in the context of what was asked by the client. Good job.
The door was fixed and solid and will last another hundred years. If Mozart posted a video for his Requiem some kazoo player from Walla Walla would criticize it.
That was mesmerizing. I don't have a lot of time to sit and watch a video on door restoring... but I loved this. If everyone would speed up their videos I might watch more. Nice job, most people would throw away the door and get a new one.
Nice job man. I learned a lot. Pity the owner didn't want more done to it. I restored 69 yr old gates for a 92 yr old woman a few yrs ago for free in the freezing cold month of January. Took me 2 weeks & Broke my heart. Wud have took me a day to make new ones.
Jonathan David Woodworking I did it because her grandson tried to rip her off €2000 for new gates. & her husband off 70+ yrs had just passed away before the xmas. They where only fit for a skip but it was their first home, so out of respect to her husband & knowing that these where the gates to his kingdom every night after work,I felt was only fit to restore them. From watching your video, I now appreciate restoration. Its more a victory than success.
Kick ass!!! It's too bad that it's so difficult to match the original paint with all of it's wear and age. That's what I really dig. Awesome work though Bud.
I am a painter and I work in very old buildings in Chicago to me these repairs don’t look correct but with the time constraints and how you have to pump out work fast -it has to be durable and usable in a commercial building setting, I would say it looks fine and it works go for it! You may only have a couple hours in the budget to repair this door
Did you find out what the veneer was from the sections you took off? Caulk for an exterior application is perfectly acceptable, maintains flexibility, won’t pop, bondo is a weather resistant polyester filler, much cheaper than “architectural” restoration fillers. Nice job.
Good on ya, good to see enough appreciation for the original door to save it rather than destroying it. That thing survived 100 years so it was built right.
I enjoyed watching this but cannot see how that repair is gonna last as long as the original door. Correct me if I’m wrong but the section mortised and screwed to the bottom looked like cheap softwood timber and the original door looked like pitched pine. Surely you would want to marry up the same timber even if it’s salvaged?
Such talent. It takes so much more skill & patience to repair. Much more than what it takes to create anew. Great job & very well presented. Thanks. Enjoyed.
Jonathan David The man himself, what an honor. You make what you do look easy. And it is easy in a way when you have experience under your belt. I'm an artist and worked on signs for a while and wound up doing the carved sign jobs because I think they found it tedious. The double sided carved sign with the eagles was 2 separate signs back to back about 6' x 10' and rotted out completely in a few places both sides. A couple whole cedar boards came out and some slices. There was enough eagle on both sides to recreate them. The letters were carved too, lot of gold leaf. I had to carve out rot and glue wood in and there were some Bondo patches but Bondo carves well. That was before the millennial and the sign is still holding up. That job was out in the country, now I work in NYC restoring antique metal artifacts. Just Thursday I finished working on an "ark" the thing that holds a Torah. It was about 2' x 2' x 14" deep and looked like a roman temple with columns with decorated bases and palm leaf capitols. Check this out, it was all made in pure silver and gold. I tested the gold and the acid didn't do anything to it, pure. I needed to know if it was real gold because the work order indicated the gold parts needed plating. No plating needed. There were about 90 gold decorative pieces, and check this out, they were held to the ark not with screws but with silver pins about a half inch long that are twisted to hold them to the sheet silver body of the ark. It's hard to describe the thing but it really looked kinda like the Acropolis with stairs and columns and big doors decorated 32 gold flowers (yes I counted all the parts before sending them to polishing). Top it all off with a light went on when the door was opened to take the Torah out but that mechanism was simple enough. Inside the ark was soft blue cloth. I think this ark might have been to store a real old scroll Torah, and the scroll would be stored in a fancy decorated silver tube. Must have been 200 parts on 5 2x4 foot trays to clean and polish. The hard part was putting it back together without scratching the mirror like sheets of polished silver. It looked cool, came in all wobbly and smeared with glue to hold the columns up, all tarnished and ugly (this was weird, the gold was even tarnished but I think that was somehow from close contact with the silver, didn't make sense though but it was gold for sure). I don't usually do the mechanical work on these things like this, I mostly do a lot of the repair and torch work, silversmith type work but with all different metals. But for some reason they throw all the religious stuff at me. I had to fix an old Holy Water fountain thing, Holy Water on tap, for real. I made a joke about hooking a hose to the back of it. There are these things I must have fixed 20 of called a Monstrance, look like gothic cathedrals with statues of saints on them. They hold one little bread wafer called "The Host" in a special glass in glass container. I one time fixed a tiny Picasso sculpture and a chess set by Dali cast from a mold of his thumb. All kinds of odd one of a kind things come my way. Often the trickiest part of the job is silver soldering something and doing as little damage to the patina as possible, then recreating the patina in the little burned area. I even recreate missing parts, I had to fix a cool Buddha riding on a stag sculpture and made Buddha's missing left hand. Sometimes I have to research a piece, like when I had to make a missing trident for an 1880's award winning sculpture of a gladiator called "We who are about to die salute you", no shit. Do a lot of work for Sotheby's and Christies, restoring something before auction. Pewter is a pain to fix, low melting temperature. But I have a secret weapon for emergencies, and industrial alloy that melts at 158F. I rarely use it though. I have my tricks from 40 years of experience and this is what I say part of my job is, "Sometimes I have to make 1+1=3".
Thanks for sharing your experiences. Sounds like you have a wealth of knowledge. I would love to see some of your work! And I can totally relate to 1+1=3 haha
I was thinking you know that's a nice little project to do out in the garage. I didn't have all those tools like you did but I had space. i feel for you with your tight shop..nice to be able to do stuff like this..
Not sure why all the hate. The craftsmanship was still there regardless of the client's budget. It's the craftsmanship that will land people better budgeted gigs. I've had to make cringeworthy decisions in my profession in order to deliver in budget, but I would never give up my craftsmanship.
Of course I agree with you this is a cheap repair and within budget. A quality repair job requires the removal of a complete laminate, decorative moldings and paint. The adhesive must be applied to the entire surface of the wood to be installed. And he didn't do it. Every carpenter knows that. And the tree must be the same as it was replaced. It is in the domain of the budget. At best, when the client has enough money I would suggest him to make identical new oak doors and no mail openings. The biggest mistake is that he did not describe why this project was done in this way. Thus, without a description or explanation, he creates the impression that he is a bad carpenter.
That phone call you did not attend at 10:11, If it was a telemarketer, that is exactly another reason why I work in my workshop without uninvited disruptions. :)
A few issues but, the the door should have been stripped and resealed. Spot priming will show up in the final paint finish. Old paint does not hold resin on the surface as the primer will. Strip and re-prime or at least prime the whole door before painting.
Beautifully done, but, I will add something, I fixed a real big door for a colonial building in Durango Mexico, over 180 years old door, I didn’t use new material, I found real similar old lumber from a demolition by the area. Buildings in the area were built in the same period
Using soft wood to repair a hardwood door is not restoring it. It is repair on the cheap, sorry, but the use of bondo and cheap soft wood is not the way to go, especially on an exterior door.
Did you ever thing that maybe they did it like that is because the customer didn't have the money to do it 100% so they did it the best way possible to save the door
+Ro Efa Thanks for watching. I would definitely not do it this way if I had the choice. The customer was on a time constraint and tight budget. I already feel bad for the next guy :/
then why didnt you tell the costumer its better to wait another 6 months ,give him time to save some money. do the job properly and timeperiod correct as a 100 year old door deserves to be restored,then do it the quick n easy way and it will not last as long and certainly not how it needs to be done
I am working on restoring 130 yr old pr of doors using the same old species we purchased, inlays & epoxy if you want it to last. We have 200 windows to reproduce only 3 are salvageable 5' x 9'3" arch tops
Great job but I've got to agree with everybody Ive done this for over 20 years and this was a repair job all the paint should come off and wood puddy used not bondo and caulk looks good tho but for how long?
+Maidenlord 666 If you read my other replies you would know I agree. This was a quick project under a tight budget. The door is never used. The owners simply requested a cheap repair. Thanks for watching!
That’s a great renovation, it should last 25-30 more years before further work will be needed, longer if the paint is kept fresh. I have been using bondo to make these types of repairs for close to 40 years and have never had problems with the repair failing. I would have used a water proof wood glue, because I am more familiar with it, and white oak , because I like it’s rot resistance, but that’s just personal preference. Also if it would have needed to have been historically restored, well that’s a completely different animal isn’t it.
I like the bondo, because it sets fast, I can finish a job quicker, with less time waiting for a filler to dry. This is especially important when going from job to job. I have made strong invisible repairs to hollow core interior doors with primer and paint in about an hour, that’s pretty hard to do with anything else.
In use, I like to ruff sand (about 36 grit) before it hardens completely, they call this the green stage. Then the second coat should work as the final coat.
one of my tricks is to rub in parifin wax on the bottom after all primer /top coat dried, double protection from moisture seep. what kind of camera is that? and can it upload to computer?
I find it odd that they used veneer 100 years ago, but I guess I just didn't expect it! why wouldn't you strip all of the paint off for a full restoration? Cool project, great job!
+Bryan Chittenden Thank you for watching! A full restoration would have taken much longer and cost much more than the client would have liked. This door is not being used. They wanted the door to hold its original aesthetic beauty, but without a hefty cost.
Nice repair, hopefully the owner will one day have more money to afford a proper restoration. Kudos to him for not going the easy route and replacing the door with some cheap modern imitation.