Old Oak

I'm planning to finish off the new desk with a suitable flourish.

Sitting around in sheds and workshops for the last twenty-five years, this old piece of carving has just been gathering dust. But now I'm making a frame for it - there in the background:

This "endless knot" is one of a number of Flemish pew-ends, dating from the early 16th century. My dad recovered them from a house being demolished in SE London, but unlike the other 40 or so panels, this one had been maltreated and had been removed from its (Victorian) framing.

It has split into four pieces, and right in the middle there's a hole which shows some signs of having been there quite a while:

Perhaps for a Victorian bell-pull? Worse - and suspiciously - in each of the four corners there's a countersunk hole for a screw:

The other panels were quite nicely set into their surrounds (they formed three sides of a fully panelled room), without any evidence of screws. About the only thing to be said in favour of this one is that it doesn't appear to have been given a dark stain: the oak is still the original colour.

I've glued the splits back together as best I can, and (surprisingly difficult) cut a small piece of oak to fit the hole in the middle - the countersunk holes will either get modern woodfiller or wax. Right now it's all clamped up while the glue for its new surround sets. The surround is made from a plank I found in one of the sheds here - very dirty at first, and a wood I can't quite identify (it's not oak, though). With luck tomorrow I'll be able to get it put into place at the end of my desk.

Annoyingly where it is going to be put, the wooden pillar it will set against is not at all vertical, so I'll be cutting a small triangular fillet to go in between the panel and the post - I decided it was better than cutting a narrow sliver off the newly made surround.