disassembly of Olhausen Americana table
- Thread starter foxygary
- Start date
Hi Gary,
First thing to do is undo the pockets from the underside of the slate and table. They could be stapled or screwed. Then you need a 1/2 socket to take the 18 rail bolts out. Pull the rails off being careful on how they are attached to each other. Take a #3 phillips head screwdriver to take the pockets off the rails. Now you can either pull all the staples on the bed cloth to save it or use a razor around the edge and pull the staples out. The slates have 4 #3 phillips screws per slate. If the slates have bondo on them you must score the seam with a razor. After you remove the slate it is just a matter of taking a 9/16th open end wrench to take the legs off. The cabinet can be made into an L but I think this should be all you need. Best of luck!
No...you want to pull the staples with a tack or staple puller. If you don't have one a small flat head screwdriver or awl will work.
With the backing on Olhausens, you can get away with that a lot of the time, but it depends on what size staples they used and how many. There's always the risk of tearing the cloth, especially when pulling the pockets. Safer to just pull the staples first.
Thanks guys. This was a great help. I will be back here in the next couple days with questions about putting it back together!
Gary
Also make sure to label the rails, pockets, pedestals, slates, head end, foot end, etc. to make sure you get them put back together in the same place.
now assembly of the Olhausen Americana
Update: The disassembly of the Olhausen went smooth. Although those slates are "heavy"! WOW! It's now in my basement waiting for assembly. But the 1st question I have is about the table cloth. It appears to be older, but still in good shape. There are no scuff marks or any tears or rips. It looks like it could use a good cleaning. I am wondering if you advise me to take the cloth to a dry cleaner? I also noticed before I took the table apart, that some of the rails appeared "dead" when rolling a ball against them. Any ideas on this? The table is 23 years old.
Update: The disassembly of the Olhausen went smooth. Although those slates are "heavy"! WOW! It's now in my basement waiting for assembly. But the 1st question I have is about the table cloth. It appears to be older, but still in good shape. There are no scuff marks or any tears or rips. It looks like it could use a good cleaning. I am wondering if you advise me to take the cloth to a dry cleaner? I also noticed before I took the table apart, that some of the rails appeared "dead" when rolling a ball against them. Any ideas on this? The table is 23 years old.
An Olhausen that age is before they were using Accu-fast rubber. You can look at it 2 ways. You can take care of the rubber now while the table is already apart, or you can wait until you need a recover, since the cloth is in good shape.
If the cloth doesn't show much wear, I wouldn't bother taking it to the dry cleaner. Just give it a good shaking while it's off the table to knock some of the chalk dust off. You'll probably have plenty on there. Also make very sure you don't have any dust or debris on the bottom of the cloth. Any little bit can show up as a bump under the cloth once it's back on the table. Then you'll want to brush it out really good before the rails go back on so you can get any of the stuff that gathers under the rails.
Good luck!
If the cloth doesn't show much wear, I wouldn't bother taking it to the dry cleaner. Just give it a good shaking while it's off the table to knock some of the chalk dust off. You'll probably have plenty on there. Also make very sure you don't have any dust or debris on the bottom of the cloth. Any little bit can show up as a bump under the cloth once it's back on the table. Then you'll want to brush it out really good before the rails go back on so you can get any of the stuff that gathers under the rails.
Good luck!