New-to-me bookcase

The display cabinet/bookcase picked up down the road just before Christmas and last noticed at reference 1 early in the New Year, has now graduated to the study, where it looks rather well, largely filled with books purchased in the last few years which had been living in piles on the floor and on adjacent chairs and tables. As can be seen, many of them recycled library books. Books which I rather like because they tend to be properly bound hardbacks and the tickets, stickers and stamps inside are often entertaining.

Decided that a complete sanding down and re-varnishing was not appropriate, so phase 1 was to apply Sadolin to the sanded top, which worked rather well. A soft finish which blended with what was already there. So bought new tin of Sadolin from ebay, the old one being both old and near empty. A tin which cost me £20, probably more than I would pay for a piece of furniture like this one from a junk shop or a charity shop, cleaned up for me by someone else. But I still have three quarters of a tin left and maybe it will come in at some point. It certainly seems to keep in the tin quite well.

Phase 2, sand down the sides and the leading edges of exposed shelves. Sadolin them.

Phase 3, sand down the front of the two doors. Sadolin them. And when that had dried and the doors had been reinstated, I decided that I had done enough. Inhaled quite enough foul tasting dust for one season.

Phase 4,  installation in the study.

Quite pleased with the result, despite it being a rather odd and rather heavy piece of furniture. To my mind, the bottom half of the piece should project beyond the doors above; a design error which makes it look a bit top heavy. But it was done by design, as the shelves behind glass have regular housings, with exposed ends, while the visible shelves have stopped housings.

Another catch is that the storage schema for study books has been disturbed, and until I have another reorganisation, it is going to take rather longer to find things than it might otherwise. There is also the point that unread or unfinished books on the floor were more apt to be picked up from there than they are from the bookcase.

PS: the steel box bottom left is of naval origin. Another substantial piece, cunningly lined with thin copper sheeting, which must have taken a while. No idea why: I thought it was some kind of ammunition box, but the last naval use was storage of dress uniforms. With the exterior decoration being the result of it being pressed into service as a prop in a Gilbert & Sullivan production put on by the Gosport Amateur Operatic Society (GOAS). Presently the home for gas bills, car insurance papers, paper clips and bulldog clips. And so on and so forth. Serving in place of my father's desk which took up too much space and was retired some years ago.

Reference 1: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2021/01/sanding-down.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/12/found-furniture.html.

Reference 3: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2019/07/godshill.html. The brown ball purchased in the course of the visit here noticed can be seen on top of the bookcase. To the left of the crumpet rings, not used this year. Maybe I will get to them.

Reference 4: https://www.wanderable.com/hm/NicolaandDavid16032016. Which suggests GAOS survived well into the new millennium, although it seems to have dropped out of view now. I might say that we stayed at the Alverbank Hotel mentioned here a couple of times. An excellent establishment.

Reference 5: Gosport Amateur Operatic Society - William Delicate - around 2006.