I love old antique items, especially things from the "Americana" age, so I really enjoyed your piece yesterday. And I like the rustic beam aspect of your new find. But my comment is really about your coffee table in the 2nd pic - now THAT is awesome!
This is an excellent piece. First I want to call out the best cluster of words on the internet this week: "whiplashed by the creosote situation."
More than that, though, I really vibed with this as someone who has written about authenticity a great deal over the years. Your points are universal but letting them unfold in a microcosm -- your apartment -- makes them even stronger. Are you familiar with the story of "the same axe twice"? If not:
My grandfather buys an axe. He uses it for many years and passes it on to my father. My father uses it, but the handle breaks and he replaces it and keeps using it. My father passes it on to me. I use it for years but at some point the blade breaks. I replace the blade and keep using it.
Depends on how much work you're willing to put in to restore the cross-bar for in-house display (certainly a worthwhile goal). Here's what I recommend: coat it in copius amount of baking soda sprinkle a fine mist of water to let soda soak in. For a 5ft length you'd probably need a couple of kilos - it cheap.
Then after it's dried in the sun for a couple of days, sand it down with a fine grit sand paper. Sanding by had with a strip of sandpaper wrapped around a scrap block is fine, else you can use a palm sander if you have/borrow one
Sand until the layer down to which the soda had penetrated comes off (should be a couple of mm I think depending on how generous you were in application. Then vacuum it and bring it in to check...
If necessary, you can apply a new coat of shellac protection/sealant layer as someone else suggested, that takes several days in the sun to dry out before being dry.
You can also put up a post on several of the antique wood restorers forums - many people do this as a serious hobby!
Speaking only from an observational standpoint, the cross arm most likely isn’t originally connected to most (if any) of the insulators given the differing types and their arrangement on the arm especially so close to its midpoint which is too close to where it would have attached to the pole. Thus, does the arm really attach (in a collective sense) to the insulators?
I agree that at least some of these particular insulators were probably not originally matched with this particular beam. But it's still a real utility beam, as opposed to a replica.
I wonder if there's some way to apply a finish to the crossbar that would still leave it looking authentic but would seal it so it stops emitting fumes.
I love old antique items, especially things from the "Americana" age, so I really enjoyed your piece yesterday. And I like the rustic beam aspect of your new find. But my comment is really about your coffee table in the 2nd pic - now THAT is awesome!
Thanks, Bob. That coffee table is a repurposed mine cart. Bought it from a Manhattan antiques dealer back around 2010.
This is an excellent piece. First I want to call out the best cluster of words on the internet this week: "whiplashed by the creosote situation."
More than that, though, I really vibed with this as someone who has written about authenticity a great deal over the years. Your points are universal but letting them unfold in a microcosm -- your apartment -- makes them even stronger. Are you familiar with the story of "the same axe twice"? If not:
My grandfather buys an axe. He uses it for many years and passes it on to my father. My father uses it, but the handle breaks and he replaces it and keeps using it. My father passes it on to me. I use it for years but at some point the blade breaks. I replace the blade and keep using it.
Is it the same axe my grandfather had?
I do like the fact it came with the pole, it might be worthwhile effort to detoxify it 🤷🏽♀️
Depends on how much work you're willing to put in to restore the cross-bar for in-house display (certainly a worthwhile goal). Here's what I recommend: coat it in copius amount of baking soda sprinkle a fine mist of water to let soda soak in. For a 5ft length you'd probably need a couple of kilos - it cheap.
Then after it's dried in the sun for a couple of days, sand it down with a fine grit sand paper. Sanding by had with a strip of sandpaper wrapped around a scrap block is fine, else you can use a palm sander if you have/borrow one
Sand until the layer down to which the soda had penetrated comes off (should be a couple of mm I think depending on how generous you were in application. Then vacuum it and bring it in to check...
If necessary, you can apply a new coat of shellac protection/sealant layer as someone else suggested, that takes several days in the sun to dry out before being dry.
You can also put up a post on several of the antique wood restorers forums - many people do this as a serious hobby!
Speaking only from an observational standpoint, the cross arm most likely isn’t originally connected to most (if any) of the insulators given the differing types and their arrangement on the arm especially so close to its midpoint which is too close to where it would have attached to the pole. Thus, does the arm really attach (in a collective sense) to the insulators?
I agree that at least some of these particular insulators were probably not originally matched with this particular beam. But it's still a real utility beam, as opposed to a replica.
I wonder if there's some way to apply a finish to the crossbar that would still leave it looking authentic but would seal it so it stops emitting fumes.
Hmmm. Will investigate!
FWIW, I’ve always heard “meep-meep.”