A new hall table

 We've finally got ourselves a sensible table in the hall, well a table anyway.

Yesterday had been a horrible sticky day, threatening rain, with gusty wind bringing the threat of bushfires, the sort of day that you sit inside in the air conditioning and hope that a lightning strike doesn't start something ominous.

However we'd had a plan yesterday morning to walk up to the Farmer's Market outside the Anglican church, to see if we could pick up some bits and pieces for Christmas - local organic jam to have with croissants on Christmas morning and the like.

Also, the last market before Christmas is usually a good show with local craftspeople selling things, and the church, which is very high Anglican, usually has the choir outside singing traditional carols for charity.

But it was not to be.

J had been up late the night before - somehow she has become the the local theatre company's go to person for make up, meaning she has to go early to help the actors get ready, and then afterwards, help them clean it off.

So while we set out to the market, we only got as far as the organic grocer for fruit and veg, plus some bread and sourdough pizza bases - and they had stock of local gelati, which given the heat, had to be taken directly home.

On our way back, we passed a guy who we normally say hello to, who was discussing an old sewing machine base with a mate, and who totally unexpectedly, said 'Do you want to buy this?'

Well strangely we'd been looking for something like that.

Most of the sewing machine tables you see for sale, apart from the really expensive restorations, have had the original top replaced with either a bit of plastic stone - the sort used to make kitchen bench tops - or some pressure glued wood.

This one still had the original bench top, the inlaid wood was intact, and while it had obviously been used as bench in someone's shed - there are a few paint spots and a bit of scratching to the surface, it looked like it might clean up nicely with a bit of solvent and wood cleaner.

So we talked back and forth and settled for a hundred bucks in cash. 

Fortunately, and unusually for these cashless days, we actually had a hundred bucks between us without an emergency trip to the cash machine.

Money down, hands shaken, and the guy said he would bring it round on his truck, after all we only live in the next street.

He was as good as his word, almost. For some reason he got it wrong and set off in the direction of Last Street to the wrong house, but it was an honest mistake and five minutes later he was back and helped carry it in.

The actual machine was made by Wertheim, and probably dates from the late nineteenth century.

As I said it needs a bit of a clean with some solvent, and also a fillet of wood to fill in the hole where the machine would have been mounted - rather than try and do any mending our idea is fit a simple MDF fillet and then tile over it with some small mock Victorian tiles.

inlay - detail view

As well as a simple border inlay there is also an inlayed ruler

which is kind of cool, and apparently a feature of older Wertheim machines.

The metal work is in good condition, and while a clean and a lacquer would probably not do it any harm there's no serious corrosion. The treadle and driving wheel are still in place so it looks the business.

I think that for a hundred bucks, we did quite well ...