When Last We Visited This Arthur Umanoff Wine / Bar Cart It Was Still Farm Fresh / Hot Mess. I Finally Found The Much Needed Replacement Wheels So I Took The Opportunity To Go Ahead And Start The Cleanup Process. Status: It Has Begun.

I was trying to get this post out early this morning but I kinda shot myself in the foot, metaphorically speaking. Was out too late last night, had two too many tall Cuba Libres, had to pick up Frank from the doctor early this morning (brakes) and had to do some minor work on him myself afterwords. I just didn't have the time.

So this is what the Umanoff bar cart looked like last time we saw it. I had just brought it

home from an antique mall down in the Ozarks. You can't see it but a couple of the casters

are so bent that it wouldn't roll. That was my first order of business. But alas, True Value

does not have casters like these still available. And so began the long hunt. I figured that if

True Value didn't stock them anymore no one would. After that I started combing the old

tool vendors at the Wentzville flea.

It took a couple of weekends but I finally hit paydirt last Sunday. Sadly, that was about ALL I

found. Still, I needed them badly and it felt pretty good to find 'em. This got me started on

cleaning the butcher block top since it was disgusting and sticky. I just used some cleaner

and 0000 steel wool to take those years of neglect off. It took two pads of steel wool, and

really...it needs a little more cleaning.

Also started, but only just, the cleaning and conditioning of the leather slings. They're really

dusty and a bit dry. I picked up some neatsfoot oil and have given a few of the loops a

single treatment but they're all going to get multiple slatherings before I'm done. I was a

little afraid that the neatsfoot oil would discolor the leather as was warned about on the

package but as it dries it returns to the natural leather color it started from.

The only other issues I feel like I need to deal with is perhaps finding a set of stem bearings

for the casters to help them swivel more easily, figuring out why two of the casters "pop"

into their sockets while the other two do not, maybe look into gluing the butcher block top

back together, and find some matching rivets for the leather straps. Whoa, now that I've

listed it all out it sounds like I've barely scratched the surface!