Cranberry Juice Cleanse To The Rescue

Pure water, pure cranberry concentrate and nothing else. No sweeteners, just the right amount of water per concentrate to get the taste right. This drink is special because we have seen that it can help cure and prevent bladder infections. While we do not have a bladder infection, we still like to drink this cleansing drink once or twice a year to tone up the kidney and urinary system. And so we toast, to your health...

"I really like that astringent feel and sour taste when I get the ratio just right..."

Solid Wood File Cabinet With Tung Oil Finish...

We bought a filing cabinet quite some time back for $20. It is solid wood (I would guess fir). I looked it up the other day and they go for $500-600 unfinished. I added new feet and replaced the toe kick plate with a new heavy duty one I made from scratch out of cedar. I searched for some online photos of pure Tung oil on unfinished furniture and did not really find what I needed, so I wanted to add some for others that might be also looking.

"With the drawer open you can see the before and after of the Tung oil on the wood surface..."

Keeping Santa Out Of Your Chimney To Save Energy...

One of the ways to lose a lot of heat is to leave the flue open on the chimney when you're not using it. Even if you shut the flue, many of them do not seal all that well. If you have any damage within your fireplace, like if your heat tubes have rusted out, you can have a large volume of cold air (ashy air at that) come in. This cold air can come in when you run your furnace, use your bathroom exhaust vent or burn a fire in a second fireplace that might be elsewhere in the house. ...And then there there is that big guy in the red and white suit, should you let him in?

"Does Santa really come down the chimney, and if so, how does he stay clean?"

Antique Writing Desk, Library Table or Bust...

UPDATED:

More images below.

Sometime back we bought an antique not really knowing what exactly it was but the price was right, it looked pretty nice and so we brought it home. I had thought upon seeing it that it was an antique writing desk. Overall the desk looked pretty nice other than needing the top redone and the legs tightened. Not being an expert on wood or antiques I was not sure if the wood was oak or something like hickory but I am guessing white oak. Since the desk does not have a leather writing surface it was suggested that it could be a antique library table rather than a writing desk. Another odd feature was the back board with exposed screws, that might have been added on or original, but the exposed screws would make me think it was an add on. That gave speculation that the piece might have been a wash table, but what is it really?

Generally speaking, with antiques you try to avoid refinishing them and do your best to leave them in their original intended condition as much as possible. So the first step is usually to clean them up, tighten the screws, pound in any nails sticking out and do as much of the small stuff you can to bring the piece back. Non-invasive, non-damaging cleaning is often more effective than one might originally think and should usually be the place to begin so you can see just how far you can bring the piece back. Often, cleaning and tightening a few screws might be enough. If you have go beyond that there are smaller steps than refinishing that you can take like scratch repair, veneer repair, spot repair and the like. Reserve refinishing as your last resort.

"Not having refinished an antique before I figured, 'Ya gotta start somewhere and a $49 piece of furniture was fine place to start.'"