Restoring Old Wood

    In the past several years, a number of innovative products for restoring weathered and dry rotted wood have come onto the market.  I have recently used some of them.   It happens that the building I call home was at one time a school, and atop its clay tile roof sits a handsome cupola/belfry.  Through the bell is long gone, the cupola still functions as an attic ventilator,  and would, in any case,  be difficult to remove.
    The fancy wood trimmings on this structure are badly weathered and dry rotted.   I had carefully repainted all this twenty years ago,  but haven't painted it since. The scaffold required to access this cupola is a tricky affair, and takes a week to build and tear down.    So annual repainting is not an option.   Left unpainted for the last twenty years,  the dry rot is severe.
     For most of the trim parts, I simply took accurate measurements and made new ones.  But there were four upright posts which sat on pedestals,  and these pedestals were not easy to replace.  They were 9" by 9" by 2" blocks, and the outside edge was milled to a pear shaped curve.   I took them to a local millwork shop, and they said they could easily make them if they had they right cutter blade.  It turned out that they did not, nor could they order such a blade.   Unless I wished to have a machine shop custom grind a new cutter, I would have to re-use the old wood.
   The wood blocks had each split along the grain into three or four pieces, and had large areas where the wood was rotted so badly that it could be scraped out with a spoon.    I first assembled the pieces of each block and clamped them all together, and then drilled 3/8" holes across the grain, from one side of the block to the other. I filled the holes with Elmer's Wood Glue and drove 3/8" wooden dowels in.  When the glue was dry,  the result was a block that held together rather well.  I then held the block against a wire wheel to remove the rotted wood.

       And then I coated it all over with JB Weld brand Wood Restore Liquid Hardener.   As soon as this dried, I applied several  thin coats of JB Weld brand Wood Restore Repair Putty, until the putty was flush with the original surface.  (This product is similar to the body putty used to repair dents in fenders, and is worked with the same tools and techniques.)  I now had a block precisely the same shape and dimensions  as the original,  and very solid.  It will survive weather better than the original wood,  and once painted, it won't look any different.   But just to give an added measure of weather protection,  I covered each wooden part with wire mesh and then put a thin coat of the Repair Putty over the entire surface, and sanded it smooth.

Ten years ago, this kind of quick fix would not have been possible.