not strictly building

but just about as hard to do. I've been re-assembling the walnut armoire. It took about an hour to knock it apart and bring it from the farmhouse to the barn. It took pretty well all day to put it back together again.

Partly this was because re-assembly involves getting every part loosely in place before tightening up any of the joints. And as there are four large sheets that slot in place into grooves in the structure, it's not that easy to do. Then new pegs had to be shaped to fit the assembly holes (creative use of an electric drill and some sandpaper), waxed and then whacked in.

And in addition there were some repairs and reinforcements to be done as part of the assembly: drawer runners that had broken away, through woodworm and long use, split panels in the base that needed new wood to hold them together - see here -



where I am in the process of knocking the very last peg in. But then the main beam had to be chipped away to allow the wardrobe to go right back against the wall. With some further work on the beam and the top of the wardrobe to enable it to be levelled, and - finally - cutting away the cornice to shape it around the beam. But I'm happy with the finished result:



It does need a quick squirt with the Mr Sheen and some serious polishing, though. And the four front peg holes, which don't show in the picture, have to be filled with special wax. Probably a good idea to push some of it into the capricorn beetle holes too, and then it will look a lot better than it has for a good number of years.