A Restoration Story

My first paying job as Swiger WoodWorks was for Mrs. Ann Wendorff of Laurel, MD.  Ann, as she prefers me to call her, is 87 years "young" and has a lot to teach younger generations!  This job consisted of the restoration of a porch style swing with the construction of a new A-Frame for the swing to be placed on her swing patio in her beautifully landscaped backyard.   

When first contacted to look at her swing, I said to myself, why bother, it's almost ready for the dump (sorry Ann).  But, the first paying job is something that every new business owner wants to complete as soon as possible.  So her son Rick and I loaded it into my pickup truck and off I went.

I tackled the construction of the A-Frame first as it was a straight forward project.  Then I looked at the swing that now appeared even more ready for the dump when compared to the new A-Frame.  I took it outside and washed it down with a good deck wash and it did little to improve its appearance.  A closer examination of the swing revealed that it was assembled using stainless steel screws, so I elected to completely disassemble the swing into its individual components.  After re-planing the surfaces and sanding the edges of each component and reassembling it, I was amazed at the beauty that came out.

What I didn't know at the time, but Ann did, is that this swing was made by the Pennsylvania Amish and worth saving!

Ann, thank you for teaching me a valuable lesson!

Take a look at the before and after photos and see what you think.  Just click on the thumbnail photos to see the full-size picture, then use your Web browser's Back button to return to this page.