Furniture Repair
Structural Repair
As an antiques conservator, I go to great lengths to make lasting structural repairs that are appropriate to the piece. This is at the heart of conservation and restoration work. Using the proper hand tools, the appropriate woods and veneers, and my knowledge of joinery and its history, I will return your piece to its original strength and form. From a simple veneer patch to the replacement of a missing carving, I respect the original dynamics of the piece. To make the repair disappear (or at least to make it appear to disappear) each one is touched-up using stain and earth pigments as necessary.
Gluing
In respect to gluing, I use the glue that is appropriate to the piece and the repair. The reasoning behind this is that different glue types do not adhere to each other as well as the same types of glue. With older pieces, the glue that was used in joinery was hide glue. If, when gluing a piece of furniture, I find its joinery was glued using hide glue, then I will use hide glue. With more modern pieces I will use white wood glue to reglue the piece. This decision is made on a case by case basis. All repairs to broken wood will be made with white glue.
Veneer Repair and Replacement
Veneer is a thin sheet of wood that is glued over a case made up of a secondary wood such as pine or poplar. Veneer is often arranged in patterns to display the beauty of the wood (for example book matched veneers). Veneer and the secondary wood underneath move with humidity at different rates causing the pieces to become unglued. As a result, veneer buckles and lifts off of the underlying wood. In some cases the veneer will fall off of the piece entirely. If you have furniture with loose or missing veneer, I can glue down the veneer that is loose and replace missing sections of veneer. When replacing veneer, I use the same type of wood that is missing and tone the new veneer using stains and touch-up.
