Restorations

Apart from repairing the usual wood losses and wear on the drawer runners, this early desk needed appropriate feet, molding, and hardware, as well as complete refinishing.  On the bottom left is a "before" picture. Note the ghosts of the original pulls under the later replacements. The escutcheon plates were original though missing some scrollwork. The interior had a shell carved in the prospect door and certain construction details seemed to have a Rhode Island flavor so I used the feet and molding profile from a Townsend chest as a model for these restorations (top right). Researching similar objects helps with recreating lost parts and is part of the restoration process. 

This wonderful clock had fallen due to a failure of the joint between the waist and base, a common problem on clocks. Seasonal changes in humidity cause the wood to expand and contract but cross-grain construction between the sides of the waist and the molding cause the glue line to eventually fail… with catastrophic results! While all the original wood could be glued back together, the glass had to be replaced. I salvage old glass with its wavy and seeded character to use for just these situations. Fortunately, the clockworks suffered not a bit, though twenty pounds of weights did quite a number on the lower case. All standing clocks should be fastened to the wall to prevent the clock from falling.

William and Mary tables often exhibit wonderful uses of veneer of both domestic (England) woods and exotics. This table was no exception with Italian olive combined with native ash. During its lifetime it was refinished obscuring the wood with a darkened finish. Once that layer was removed, the subtle colors of these beautiful woods were once again visible under a thin, light-colored French polish. 

I had restored this commode over 25 years ago but time and climate was not kind to it. Many veneers had been lost and water damage was obvious on the lower half. However, the construction is the the big reason for the bulk of the damage. Veneers run at whatever angle that the patterning demanded without regard to the angle that the substrate runs. Seasonal movement eventually caused the failure of the glue line. As you can see, the sides have large splits where the glue joins making up the limewood substrate have failed and opened up. Any veneer bridging that split failed, either by breaking or becoming unglued from one side or the other. It is useless to fill the crack with anything solid as these are de facto expansion joints. Any attempt to fill or glue these cracks will not only fail but will further compress the wood the next seasonal cycle. I made the decision to saw any veneer bridging the gap and leave the gaps to open and close with the seasons, preventing future veneer losses.

Repairing, restoring, and preserving upholstered furniture are some of the most challenging tasks that come into the shop. Often the frames are loose and require complete removal of the fabric and foundation in order to repair them properly. Also as common, are frames that are tight but have a break or one loose join. Sometimes with this type of repair, only the area around the problem will need to be disassembled.

Having started my career in an upholstery shop, I am all too well aware of some of the shortcuts used to "tighten up" a frame—working yellow glue into a join to "shooting" dowels in from the side. Inevitably these repairs fail in short order. Worse, the repairs can further damage the frame making future restoration that much more invasive. Usually new wood is need to replace tenons and reinforce mortises.

Historically important furniture require a more conservative approach, sometimes attaching the foundation to a sub-frame in order to keep the original frame from further invasive fasteners. The upholstered side chair pictured had all manner of restorations from metal plates to gluing and stapling cardboard. Worse, the last upholsterer cut a ⅛" groove around the leg to house the welt. However, this reduced the cheeks of the mortise by half, weakening the leg join. Click on the FIND OUT MORE to see more photos of this and other upholstered furniture restorations.