George Gamow's Bookcase

[Charles Taylor]

Prior to this project I had never felt the urge to make a video of my work. I may not feel that way after this project is done, either. Producing a video is time-consuming. In my mind, though, this project was worth documenting.

This project has occupied many of my recent weekends and weeknights, as it will continue to do while I teach myself the finer points of dyeing and finishing. Here are links to two out of what I expect to be three videos on the restoration of Dr. George Gamow's bookcase.


Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAQh91P0HKE

Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52GSx4YhauM

I always welcome criticism--and especially education--when I share my work. Enjoy, and fire away if you feel motivated.

[Jim Becker]

Charles, please post some photos here...many community members cannot watch videos because of slow-speed Internet connectivity, etc. Thanks in advance!

Jim
Forum Moderator

[Yonak Hawkins]

Charles, please post some photos here...many community members cannot watch videos because of slow-speed Internet connectivity, etc. Thanks in advance!

Jim
Forum Moderator

Yes..especially of the finished bookcase.

[Charles Taylor]

Charles, please post some photos here...many community members cannot watch videos because of slow-speed Internet connectivity, etc. Thanks in advance!

Jim
Forum Moderator

Yes..especially of the finished bookcase.

Good point. I will at least dig up some of the "before" photos soon. Photos of the finished case will have to wait until the project actually is complete. I am up to the point of repairing/restoring/replacing the finish plus coloring and finishing a new component.

EDIT--Here at least are a few of the "before" photos.

Four of the five bookcase units.
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This white patch affected three of the units but came off easily with alcohol, meaning the finish is shellac.
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The fifth bookcase unit in as-found condition, sitting on the workbench.
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The base had had some joints knocked loose, so I took it apart and labeled the joints right away.
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Since I focused my attention on recording video during the project, I didn't take much--okay, any--time to shoot still photos while I was working. I'll try to get some good stills from the video for those who can't watch it online.

[Dave Stuve]

I may be biased because Gamov is a hero of mine, but this documentary is particularly well done. I really enjoyed you discussing your options and why you chose to do what you did. So many other videos are just "after that, do this" with no reasoning given.

[Charles Taylor]

I may be biased because Gamov is a hero of mine, but this documentary is particularly well done. I really enjoyed you discussing your options and why you chose to do what you did. So many other videos are just "after that, do this" with no reasoning given.

Thanks. I appreciate that.

[Mel Fulks]

In Virginia those cases were used by legislators and or other employees. They were frequently reconfigured to fit current needs. I know many were sold off at low prices. I mention this in regard to your comment about yours not matching. The Big Bang thing reminds me of the ancients view of the origin of the gods. The Titans made them.

[Charles Taylor]

In Virginia those cases were used by legislators and or other employees. They were frequently reconfigured to fit current needs. I know many were sold off at low prices. I mention this in regard to your comment about yours not matching.

Absolutely. My regular job is in an office environment. As personnel and office assignments change, typically one inherits whatever was in the office previously, or things that are missing are obtained from the pool of surplus. With most of my colleagues being engineers or software developers, whether one ends up with a matching set of furniture is usually not a high priority.

[Chris Walls]

Outstanding ! Very nice videos. Thanks for taking the time and effort to do those for us.

Chris

[Frederick Skelly]

Looks like a labor of love! Where did you find these?

[Charles Taylor]

Outstanding ! Very nice videos. Thanks for taking the time and effort to do those for us.

Thanks!

Looks like a labor of love! Where did you find these?

Labor of love describes most of my woodworking. My brother-in-law teaches at GWU. When the chemistry department was moving to a new building a couple of years ago, he discovered these being discarded. Knowing their history, he saved them for me, figuring I'd be interested in doing a restoration and putting the bookcase back in use. Of course he was right.

[Charles Taylor]

After I posted the first video links and then a short batch of photos, I scrubbed the old shellac off all the units. Then I took quite a while to get a good spray setup and then experiment with dyes and toners before putting finish back on.

One of the cases is walnut, while the others are either mahogany or mahogany-colored. I got the mahogany cases matched, maybe a little better than the photo suggests, and finished the walnut case without any color--except for the orange that naturally exists in SealCoat. I'll use the walnut case separate from the others.

IMG_2266, 800.JPG

[Charles Taylor]

I focused my attention so much on recording video of this project that I did a really poor job of taking still photos of the progress. The project was complete as of a couple weeks ago. Here's a before-and-after comparison plus a link to the final video of the series on the restoration.
Before And After.jpg


https://youtu.be/C6HX4t2Vq4Q

[lowell holmes]

I have six units of a glass front stacking 48" bookcases that were my wife's Grandfathers.
There are two top caps for them. They resemble yours.
I value them greatly.