Some progress is being made.  All of the cabinets are stripped, re-stained and re-shellaced.  I am pleased with how they turned out.   Seems like I have been at this forever but slowly feeling like I'm getting somewhere...until the next thing pops up.

My fly fishing buddy, Mark, helped us by making a screen door that I never would have been able to achieve.  He's a cabinet maker and did some incredible work on a screen door made of birch.

 I am ready to get the tin off the front and replace the paneling and the braces which were rotted out.  There was only one obstacle...the PO had used three tubes of silicone on the window and the sides.

First I wiped the silicone remover on and then scraped with this little guy

Had to move very slowly as to not hurt the tin

I spent six hours getting the window free from the tin.  I ruined the eyebrow over the front window with my earlier and crude removal technique.  This time I have a product that removes silicone without ruining the paint and a bread knife from my camp box that I used to "fillet" the silicone away from the metal very slowly.

Whew!  Finally.

 Prying gently with my little pry tool and sawing slowing got the job done.
Very frustrating five hours.



Finally got the window off and will have another five hours invested just cleaning the residual silicone off both the window and the tin to reinstall it correctly.

Then it was up to the roof to remove and reset the little vent and the air vent.

 Both had copius amounts of silicone that was baked hard in the sun.  it was considerable fun to try and get those hex screws to start moving again and it took a pair of pliers to slowly get them started.

The PO put silicone everywhere!

Finally got it off and found another wasp nest inside of it.

The next job is to remove the main air vent frame that was, you guessed it, had more silicone gooped around it then made sense.  I will have to make a platform out of 2 X 6's and plywood so i can work on that.  Once that is off and cleaned, I can pull the front tin and start installing new birch and framing.

I think I need to do some more of this......

Before I do some of that.

The Weather Did A 180!

 The weather did a 180...going from the 90's down to 24 in the mornings for a few days as a British Columbia low barreled through.  We're back on track for high 90's every day and no rain in site until fall.   The brush and trees in the chaparral that surrounds us has a fuel moisture so low that any spark will set it ablaze and roar up the canyon.  Going to be a very tough year for wild fires and this is the last year I will be responding with a federal Fire management team and going around the country.  With the restrictions on our movement when we are on two hour, it's tough to get into the back country.

Here's a shot of the deville in the front yard with the pond and waterfall in the foreground.  We're thinking of having a permanent "camp" right there and use the trailer as a guest room.

The cactus are blooming and the hummingbirds are back in force.  Next...coveys of baby Quail running around the place.

Next up is taking the tin off and rebuilding the front end Birch and supporting wood.

For All The Folks Outside Of the US... 

If you are viewing and reading this from outside the US please take a moment and make a comment.  I am curious as to how you found us but would also like to hear about your interest in vintage trailers (or whatever you call them in your country)  I am amazed the the many locations around the world that have checked in to take a look.  Thanks and look forward to hearing from you.

Been a while since I updated.  Been busy with other chores around the ranch and projects.

The Deville sits right below our house while I am restoring

The driver's side window and wall

Started on the wall on the driver's side of the dinette that was pretty rugged.  I was going to try and save it.  Started off by removing the window and took it out to polish.  I stripped the wall several times and scrapped the old shellac off in layers

  

The dinette seats are reupholstered and ready to go back in when I get the front end re-done.  the original water tank waits for replacing as well.

what did we do before these cool sanders?

A sanding with 120 grit and then again with 220 and i was ready to pre-stain and stain with golden Oak.  I found a light coat of Golden Oak matched the patina of the 1950's original wood when covered with the Amber shellac.

One solid coat of Golden Oak stain and I'm ready for the Amber shellac.

I apply the Amber shellac with a terry cloth pad.  I cut the shellac almost

Five coats of Amber over the golden Oak stain

50/50 with denatured alcohol.  By the time I have got to the bottom, I can do another coat.  The alcohol evaporates and leaves the shellac in a thin coat.

After that goes on,  I lightly sand it with some 000 steel wool and wipe it well.  It's time then for the French Polish technique.

Multiple passes in a circular motion

I apply the shellac...still with 50/50 alcohol with the pad and continue layering.  I'll do twenty layers and the spirit off the residual oil and shellac.  I evaluate every twenty layers for color and depth and shine.

When it's the way i want it, I switch to clear shellac to finish building up.

The end result is what I was hoping for.  I can salvage another piece of original birch and it looks pretty cool to boot.  Matches the other stuff that's done.

Works for me!

 Now, there are as many ways of refinishing the birch on these old trailers as there are types of finishes.  I tried using a brush to apply the shellac but was never happy with the results.  I kept wanting the shellac to behave like varnish does but....it wouldn't cooperate.  I am very happy with how the French Polish technique is turning out and I have the time to "take my time".  It may not be for everyone.

Next up is finishing the last two windows by polishing and redoing the putty tape and new screws and replacing the wood in the front end along with some birch paneling.  Once that's done, the front end is pretty much done.  Yahoo!

So the final snow storm of the season has come and gone....I hope.  Lots of wind and blowing snow.  The lilacs and roses aren't sure what they're supposed to be doing.  I love the crunchy snow when I go down to feed but can do without the muck and sticky mud when it starts to melt. 

The Deville and the horses are getting tired of the cold stuff!

they are calling for temperatures in the 90's down the hill and it will be warm here.  Getting set to tear into the repairs to the bracing and the paneling in the front of the Deville.  It looks like we have a long window of high pressure building and that means no worries about getting the inside wet while that process takes place.

I am very happy with how the inside cabinets are looking after I used the french polish with the shellac.  I really like the look....it's easy for my nontechnical mind and abilities and I can repair dings very easily.

This is what a lot of the wood looked like before I started.

Birch by passenger side dinette and door

 The cabinets had a lot of staining and water marks but the unique shape
meant that I wanted to try and save them if possible.  I stripped them
and sanded with sandpaper down to 220 and then steel wool.  Cleaned very well and put some minwax Oak stain on.  That seemed to match the existing birch paneling the best when followed with Amber Shellac.

Workmate with scraper, French Polish "rubber" and shellac and  Denatured Alcohol

I get some scraps of rags (I use old socks).  Cut them into strips and make a ball.  I dip that into the Shellac solution and get it soaked.  I wrap the ball with a small piece of T shirt material and twist.  I then flatten it into my palm and apply a single drop of virgin Olive oil to the surface to help it move smoothly on the wood.  Then...just I apply the ball to the wood in circular motions.  Some say to use figure eights but I have better luck with
 the circles.  I start at the top and go across and move on down.  By the time I am at the bottom, the top has dried enough to go back and start over again.  Takes a number of applications....like 30-40 but it is a small area and it goes quickly.

Here's the cabinet over the oven/stove.  It was really thrashed but turned out pretty good, I think.  After applying the Amber shellac to taste for color, I switch to clear shellac and layer it until I like the depth and shine.  It really is incredible to see just how nice this turns out.  My other efforts with a brush (even a 35 dollar brush) were not near as nice.

I think it turned out pretty good.  Wish I could capture it better on camera.  

Here's the cabinet over the sink. 

The one cabinet I really thought we would have to rebuild was the tall one by the door.  Fifty years of boots kicking it and making marks and scratches made me think there was no way.  Lots of elbow grease and the french Polish really made it pop.  I am very pleased with how it came out. I figured it would take me days to get this cabinet done but it went quickly and I was finished a couple of hours. 

I am planning on stripping and refinishing all of the existing paneling that will be kept and all of the new paneling that I will install.  Same process....strip...sand...pre-stain treatment- stain...amber shellac and then clear shellac.

That's my ice box waiting to be reinstalled in the closet

I have a week long course for Public Information Officers I am coordinating and then will dive in and get the front end fixed and buttoned up.  We've come a long way.  Never dreamed we'd be doing all of this when we brought the Deville home.  It's gonna be incredible when we're done.

We just had another wet storm roll through our neck of the mountains and it left us with six inches of wet snow.  Since I can't work on the trailer and am dead in the water when it rains...I thought I would post a few pics from our place.  I'll be starting the front restoration of the framing and paneling when it dries out.

This is the view from our front porch if I am using my 400 telephoto lens on the Canon.  We used to live up in the big trees before we moved down a little bit to have our horses on our property.  Never tire of the view...

Another view from a different angle

 

Making friends.....Fire and Annie

Yucca Bloom

Male Anna's Hummingbird

Riding out the storm....

I've got something on how to do the french Polish technique that I am working on and will update my progress on the frame and paneling rebuild.  Thanks for looking.

So I was walking around the Deville this morning after feeding and saw the screen the PO had put over the slash in the front tin.

I need to get that fixed before I button up the front end.  I plan on using some flashing metal...cut to a smaller size then the screen and placed on with screws and putty tape to keep the water from coming in.  Perfect scenario would be to put a whole new piece of tin but that 's not in the cards.  Maybe down the road.

I also glanced at the window that has to come up and the hole cleaned of the residual silicone....the curse of restoration!  I need to get on that sooner then later.  There is simply no easy way to get that stuff off.



Been working on the interior cabinets while everything is torn up and being rebuilt.  Going pretty good and i learn something every day.  I am using Shellac and found a system that works for me.  I use a brush to get it on the wood and start by stripping the cabinets three times.

 I mask everything within a few feet or where I might slip and get this stuff on.

The stuff is wicked bad for you and I always getting it inside my gloves somehow.  Like having some pissed off red ants running around and biting your wrists.  I let it set for 15 minutes and scrap it off.

After the third time, I wash the wood with coarse steel wool and water.  It comes looking pretty clean.  A lot of these cabinets were incredibly dirty and scuffed but have cleaned up very well.  They also have rounded edges which I do not have the skills to reproduce so salvaging them was a priority.  I am very pleased with the results.

I'll let it dry for a day....sand it with 220 and start the Shellac.  I am putting a base coat of two to three coats of thinned Amber shellac and alcohol...almost 50/50.  I put that on with a brush.  When that dries well, I start doing what is called a French Polish technique or at least my version.  It is labor intensive but I am not on a timetable and I am very pleased with the results.  Here is the cabinet that is on the other side of the sink.

I cannot capture the depth and color of the cabinet with my point and shoot but it is almost like furniture.  No brush strokes.  This is only the Amber Shellac.  I begin using the clear shellac today and will build up even more.

Here's the cabinet that goes over the dinette.  We love our propane light!

I take a rag and fold it up and over another rag.  I pull the rag tight... like a baseball over the stuffing and dip it into the shellac and alcohol mixture and start rubbing.  The goal is to not feel any resistance and to put very thin layers down.  If it starts sticking very badly, I will put a drop of mineral oil on the rag to finish to area.  When that is done, I go over it with a drop or two of alcohol to "spirit it off".  Bottom line is that you can put coat after coat on as it dries in minutes.  Same process as used on guitars and violins.


That's what I have been doing.  We have the dinette upholstery back and it turned out incredible.  Can't wait to get them back in.  Here's a  before picture of the dinette:

Here's what the new one's look like.

My photography does not do justice to how cool the leather and distressed leather along with Serape material accent look.

I'll leave you with the view we are blessed with every day of the year.  Ever changing but always spectacular. 

The progress is slow as I wait for the window of weather and a helper to tackle the front of the trailer.  Will Remove the tin...rebuild the frame work...install some wiring while I'm in there and put the birch paneling in to replace the rotted stuff.  I also have to replace one of the side birch panels right by the door.

We've made a new electrical diagram and will be running both 12V and 120 wires as I go and we open up areas.  Plan on putting a porch light of some sort and that will need some wiring.

As we work our way to the back, I plan on replacing all the cross roof braces with wider ones after each panel goes up.  Everything will get insulated with newer and better insulation then a vapor barrier and the tin goes back on.  I've been working on the doors and drawers and they are almost done. 

Here is a link to a video taken by Larry Walsh, from Canned Ham trailers.  It's a walk through he did before I had done anything but a few drawers.  Larry's series on  Restoring the Deville and Restoring The Shasta should be required viewing for anyone thinking of giving this a try.  Especially if you have the kind of skills I do!  It's been extremely valuable to be able to view one of the 30+ Deville videos and see exactly what I have in store next.

Just a short entry to share our pleasure with a cover we bought on EBAY for the Deville.  I think we paid under a hundred for it but it could have been a bit more.  We knew the trailer must leak and we live in a foothill area that sees a lot of snow some winters.  This winter had been mild but some years, we measure the snow in feet.  They called for snow today at well below our elevation and I put the cover on last night.

Here's this morning's weather....

Here's the beginning of the storm.  The horses always stand out in the snow....always.  Really used to trouble me that we gave them warm and dry shelters but they stood out with the snow piling up on their backs.  They have a built in cover with that winter coat they grow, I guess.

We were waiting to get the front end rehab started when we might have three or four days of good weather.  Maybe next week.

We have used the cover through several rain events and are very pleased with how easy it goes up (as long as the wind is not blowing like crazy) with one person doing it.  I use a ladder....roll the cover from each end to the center and place it on the roof in the middle of the trailer.  I move the rolls back and forward till gravity takes it over the edges and climb down to secure it.  Until I learned that rolling to the center trick, it could take me a bit with the wind blowing.

Next post, I'll share what I have discovered about doing my birch wood and what I have decided on.

Here's one of our locals taken out the front window...they enjoy the snow as well!

Part 3....Why We'll Do A Partial Rebuild

Part 3....
Why we'll have to do a partial rebuild will become evident in a moment.  We had hoped that there wouldn't be too much wood rot and mold but that was pretty much wishful thinking.  There was a reason the Previous Owner had put the non-matching oak paneling up over the birch and we were about to find out why.  There was oak on the front by the dinette...on the ceiling around the vent and in the rear by the gaucho bed.   At first glance, it didn't look too bad but it didn't match and there just wasn't the same amber colored patina that we enjoy.

The oak was screwed right over the original birch

I pulled down some screws in the front of the trailer and took a peek inside. I finished taking all the screws out and found a mess of mold, wood rot and insect carcasses.

Darn!  I knew there was reason for the extra paneling....

Front right corner of the trailer.  You can see the board that birch paneling had been secured to.  There is a cut in the tin about 1/3 of the way up and it had been covered with a vent on the outside.....obviously a while after the damage had been done.

The original birch is the yellowish paneling and this was where it attached to the floor board.  It was hidden by the oak.

Very spongy section of one of the 1 by 4 cross braces.

 Looking in the lower right hand corner of the front of the trailer again.
The boards that support the front end are crumbling.  The wood that the tin staples into and the J rail screws into is dust as well.

There was some rot and mildew on the left side as well.  The PO used copious amount of silicone goop and still couldn't keep the water out.

This is ceiling tin and supports that have some mildew and mild rot from water coming in.  They had put the Oak over the warped and mildewed birch...some evidence in the left side of the picture.  We're looking from door towards the kitchen cabinet.  The tin will have to be removed and we will reinstall birch and redo the supports while we're in there.  (Remember, I was thinking we could just get away with some sanding....shellac and upholstery...)

This is the aluminum brow that covers the front window.  It would have polished up nicely had it not been secured with copious amounts of that insidious silicone.  I have to get the window out before I can take the tin off to do the inside paneling and supports.

I tried nine different ways to get this stuff to unleash the brow but finally the only thing that would work was brute strength....a bread knife from my camp box and a lot of the seven words that you used to not be able to say on TV.   I spent over two hours removing this brow.  All I could think of was the door breeching explosives used by our troops and how that just might be the ticket.  The brow was destroyed in the process ( I have access to another)

The back of the trailer has the same issues and will be addressed next.  In addition, I noted a large and thankfully desiccated wasp nest complete with dead wasps by the rear tail light.  All in due time.

I'll leave you with a picture of another of the reasons why we love living in our little valley.  This young Bluebird has been hanging around for quite some time.  They really enjoy the pond and perching in the high places.