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Love Song No. 42
Jul. 27th, 2006 04:33 pmHave I ever told you about my desk? It is a fine, fine desk, antique, Arts and Crafts style, solid oak, big but not unreasonably big. Felt-lined drawers that go as deep as the desk does! Paper trays! space for a dog and a cat in the kneehole! And best of all, it has a story, which is this:
My grandmother was a reference librarian for many years in a deeply misguided library system (example: they built a library in the eighties which had to be torn down about ten years later because it was so badly designed that it was literally rotting to pieces). At one point, the system decided to do away with its entire stock of oak librarians' desks and replace them with ugly metal desks; I do not recall specifically the reason for their doing it -- possibly it had something to do with the fact that the desks really needed refinishing, which why refinish something when you can replace it? -- but they had the good grace to offer the desks up for sale to their respective "owners," and that is how my grandmother got to take home the very desk she worked at for years. And she refinished it, and it is still beautiful.
I used to go to work with my grandmother sometimes, when she worked at the "temporary" metal library which nevertheless stood for twenty years or so before finally being replaced by the aforementioned rotting library. I remember the smell of their mimeograph machine, doughnuts in the breakroom, spinning and reading on my grandmother's desk chair at that desk. I was given free reign, spoiled by the librarians, who loved me and allowed me to read whatever I wanted, because let's face it, small children who happily spend entire days at a time hanging out in libraries are kind of thin on the ground. I liked the rainy days in that library especially, and the sound of rain on a metal roof still reminds me of that library, and that desk, this desk, still reminds me of all these things.
It's a beautiful desk, but that's not the only reason why I love it, is what I'm trying to say. And that is why I nearly broke down and cried when I discovered while dusting today that the desk has in the past couple of weeks developed a fine crack on the desktop. It's not along a seam or anything -- the desktop is a single piece of wood, and it more or less traces the grain, rather than a straight line -- and I'm very worried about it. I have every intention of keeping this desk until the day I die, and possibly of being buried with it, and so I absolutely have to make it last another fifty years or so.
Does anyone know anything about caring for and repairing wood furniture? I've read a few things online which might serve, but don't really address the possibility of the crack widening, which is something I do not want to happen or inadvertently encourage, for obvious reasons. Any helpful hints? Advice? Anyone?
My grandmother was a reference librarian for many years in a deeply misguided library system (example: they built a library in the eighties which had to be torn down about ten years later because it was so badly designed that it was literally rotting to pieces). At one point, the system decided to do away with its entire stock of oak librarians' desks and replace them with ugly metal desks; I do not recall specifically the reason for their doing it -- possibly it had something to do with the fact that the desks really needed refinishing, which why refinish something when you can replace it? -- but they had the good grace to offer the desks up for sale to their respective "owners," and that is how my grandmother got to take home the very desk she worked at for years. And she refinished it, and it is still beautiful.
I used to go to work with my grandmother sometimes, when she worked at the "temporary" metal library which nevertheless stood for twenty years or so before finally being replaced by the aforementioned rotting library. I remember the smell of their mimeograph machine, doughnuts in the breakroom, spinning and reading on my grandmother's desk chair at that desk. I was given free reign, spoiled by the librarians, who loved me and allowed me to read whatever I wanted, because let's face it, small children who happily spend entire days at a time hanging out in libraries are kind of thin on the ground. I liked the rainy days in that library especially, and the sound of rain on a metal roof still reminds me of that library, and that desk, this desk, still reminds me of all these things.
It's a beautiful desk, but that's not the only reason why I love it, is what I'm trying to say. And that is why I nearly broke down and cried when I discovered while dusting today that the desk has in the past couple of weeks developed a fine crack on the desktop. It's not along a seam or anything -- the desktop is a single piece of wood, and it more or less traces the grain, rather than a straight line -- and I'm very worried about it. I have every intention of keeping this desk until the day I die, and possibly of being buried with it, and so I absolutely have to make it last another fifty years or so.
Does anyone know anything about caring for and repairing wood furniture? I've read a few things online which might serve, but don't really address the possibility of the crack widening, which is something I do not want to happen or inadvertently encourage, for obvious reasons. Any helpful hints? Advice? Anyone?
