April 21st, 2005 - Detail cleaning and dirty felt

Today was my first real test, I felt, of how well I could take things apart, clean them up, and put them back together. I fell like I did a good job of taking it apart... but more importantly I was wise enough to take pictures ahead of time for to put it back together in the future.


(here you can see the mechanisms that the draws push around behind the scenes)

So off came the parts...

I pulled all the blocks off the piece. They were so perfectly crafted and yet so simple. Each one was perfectly placed and was gently lined with a small piece of felt which, for the most part, was numbered and needed to be replaced. Then off came the little arms and levers. And I piled them and prepared them for cleaning. It became apparent once they were no loner in their place how important these photos I took where going to be.


...moped up the dust, and cleaned some felt...



... and into the water it went. I hope Tucson's water is clean enough for this process...


... and a quick look at the wood after it's brief sink shower. It was like bathing a baby. Gentile, yet deliberate.