Services

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There are many skills involved in the restoration process, and for me the overall objective when restoring a piece of antique furniture is to aim for a delicate, sensitive balance between its restoration and conservation so that it retains its original character, while at the same time remaining useful and functional for the purpose for which it was made.

This process involves several of the following complementary skills to achieve this aim and can be as varied as carving, turning, inlaying, marquetry, brass work, French polishing and veneering.

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Whether you have a large partner's desk, a special chest of drawers, a favourite bureau or have recently inherited a family heirloom which may need just a little attention to complete repolishing, I am able to offer you a personal and professional service and advice on any aspect of restoration that you may require.

Several types of polish are used in the restoration process and are used for matching out and blending in both small and large repairs to complete stripping and repolishing. All this is carefully carried out by hand.

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Waxing is also another type of finish that is often used and found on earlier pieces of furniture. This can give your much loved piece that overall warmth and glow. If your piece has lost its lustre and is looking a little tired do not be alarmed, this can and does happen from time to time especially when furniture is in constant use. We are all busy these days and do not always have time to regularly get out the wax tin.

The patination begins to wane a little and suffer slightly, do not despair all is not lost. With carefully chosen waxes your pieces can be brought back to their well loved condition and can once again glow and give grace to any room in your home.

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From small repairs to complete re-veneering these are all individually selected and laid by hand in the traditional manner.

Old and new veneers are carefully selected from my stock and any unusual veneers that may be required are sourced from specialist suppliers to carry out the restoration work on each individual piece. This can involve work on table tops, sides and tops of chests of drawers and those small pieces that occasionally disappear from the front edges of drawer rails on your favourite chest of drawers.

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Do you have missing inlay on your much loved piece of furniture?

Individual pieces of inlay can be cut and inlaid to your requirements to replace those that are missing and in some cases complete new panels can be made should they be required.

Occasionally small pieces of inlay can become loose and do get lost which is usually due to movement of the ground work, (the timber on which these inlays have been applied) or removed just by general dusting, these pieces can be restored and finally polished and matched out.

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Mouldings can be either long grain (i.e. the moulding runs with the length of the grain) or cross grain (running at right angles to the grain) used particularly on Queen Anne and William and Mary walnut pieces and are applied to edges of tops, front edges of carcases, drawer fronts and so on. If any of these are missing or damaged on your most cherished piece of furniture, they can be carefully restored to match the original.

With cross grain mouldings, plain pieces of mahogany, oak or walnut are individually cut to the required size and then glued to a long grain section, which can be of an alternative timber such as oak, using traditional glues. When these pieces are dry they are then moulded to match your original section and finally polished and matched out.

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Turning is also part of any restoration process.

Mahogany wooden handles may have been lost, damaged or broken off from the drawer fronts of your favourite desk.

Whether it is a drawer handle, table column or chair leg these can be matched from your original patterns to your special requirements. The turned column shown in the picture was a copy to replace the original one damaged by woodworm.

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Carvings can be repaired, as the picture shows, to retain as much of the original leg as possible or copies can be made to your requirements.

New carvings can be made and copied from your original patterns to replace or restore those that may have become damaged. These can vary from chair legs, table legs, carved back rails and arms to table columns.

From my old stock of timber pieces are carefully selected and chosen to match as near as possible the grain and colour of your original piece.

With new carvings the details of the pattern are drawn on the selected piece of timber, whether it is new or old. These are then cut and carved accordingly to either repair the damaged originals or to completely replace them if that should be the necessary.

Traditional steel gouges of all shapes, styles and designs are carefully and skilfully used by hand to reproduce that authentic look.

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Occasionally delicate fretwork can become damaged and pieces may have been lost. Restoration can be carried out on the original panels and then cut to match or complete new pieces can be made.

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Providing you have an original handle these can be copied along with its front plates, fixing posts and nuts, should they be required.

These are made by a lost wax process and the new handle may be 3 - 4 % smaller than the original, using the traditional combination of metals, an authentic colour and patination can be achieved. All you have to do is post the handle to me and I will get back to you with a cost.

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Locks can be dismantled, cleaned, reassembled and lubricated and new keys cut. Your locks may be in need of repair when they become damaged or broken; if this is the case and it is cost effective, this can be carried out or new ones can be fitted for you.

Locks vary enormously from small to large drawer, door or cupboard locks to bureau and rolltop desk locks whether in brass or steel.

Copies of original Georgian steel keys can be specially ordered, supplied and fitted when required to complement and complete the restoration on your original lock to give that genuine authentic look.

Decorative keys bows made of brass can also be supplied and fitted to the ends of your modern keys to give a more decorative effect to your special piece of furniture.

Brass escutcheon inserts or plates are available to replace those that may be missing from your drawer fronts, or copies can be made from your originals.

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Your chairs, settees, chesterfields, drop end settees, wing chairs can be partially or fully stripped out to carry out the necessary repairs to their framework, (i.e. joints may be loose or broken and in some cases rails may need to be repaired or replaced). The pieces are then reupholstered using all the traditional skills required in the time honoured manner to restore your special piece using appropriate materials. You can either supply your own material or choose from the many catalogues that are available here.

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Chair and settee frames along with your large or small mirror frames can be fully restored, re-gessoed and carved where necessary, then partly or fully re-gilded in gold or silver leaf using the traditional oil or water gilding methods. Finally the repairs are toned in to match the rest of the frame.

Often with age the mitred corner joints of picture or mirror frames can move with the result that the gesso becomes brittle and part or whole carvings can just break away. Gilded mouldings can suffer from the same problem revealing the gesso work underneath the wonderful gold leaf and spoiling the overall effect of the frame.

A lot of the delicate and intricate carvings are held together by steel wires incorporated into the framework, these can often go rusty and break causing severe damage; these can be carefully restored.

Using time honoured skills which have been handed down from generation to generation and traditional materials your furniture or mirror frames can be sympathetically restored.

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With age, canework can become quite brittle and very often splits or just tears away from the seat frame, back or side panels.

Repairs are carried out by hand in the traditional manner and the new cane is carefully threaded through those small holes that have been drilled in the seat or side rails to form the classic hexagonal pattern, this looks so nice when completed. When left and allowed to age naturally, the new canework turns that lovely golden brown colour.