I've done some antique-faking with furniture to go with my genuine
colonial antiques from my late husband's childhood home in Weston,
Massachusetts, that was built in 1692.  It's really a lot of work.

I recall doing one particular table that turned out so "well," if
that's the term for success, that most people will pick it out as an
antique long before they appreciate the genuine articles.  It was just
white pine, not even an Eastern hard wood.

I just bought this piece at an unfinished furniture store.  I stressed
it by dragging it down the gravel drive with a truck, I poured lye on it,
I beat it with rusty chains, etc.

 [ Gracious, now I'm wondering about your late husband!  
 [ -- Robbie

All the glue dissolved and it came completely apart.  I removed the
screws.  After the real fun of "stressing" it was over, the real work
began.  I pegged it back together with wood pegs, re-glued the joints,
then attempted to erase every sign of raised grain and stressing by
endless sanding and "repairs," finishing it off with hours of French
polishing.

It does not resemble the "stressed" furniture one finds labeled as
such, because the repaired stressing is so subtle, it only appears
very old.  The lye imparts a wonderful color to some woods.  (It does
horrible things to yellow pine, I discovered, when I ended up with
a bright orange desk.)

I can't imagine why anyone would ever bother to put that many hours of
labor to build and fake an antique for a profit, when the same hours at
honest work at a moderate wage would be more assuredly profitable.  It
seems that faking old musical mechanisms would be even less rewarding.

My reward was just the experience of playing around with wood, seeing
what it will do, etc., and having the time to do it as a hobby interest.
Of course, I do enjoy it when someone will say, "That's a beautiful
antique," but I point out that my fakes that wouldn't fool an expert
for five minutes.

Patty Slayton

 [ Patty carves music box cases and enjoys woodworking of all sorts.
 [ Her home in the boondocks of Idaho is so far from civilization that
 [ her address is the latitude & longitude coordinates indicated on the
 [ display of the postman's Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver!
 [ -- Robbie