Repairing and Restoring Furniture: The Complete Manual 17-20th Century

Three kinds of woodwork are dealt with in this book - reviving, repairing and restoring furniture. "Reviving" is usually confined to furniture from the l950s onwards which can loosely be described as "non-period". "Repairing" involves making good breakages as a result of misuse, attending to troubles caused by warping, remaking loose joints and touching up or completely repolishing faulty polished surfaces. Such work is more difficult and time-consuming than reviving. "Restoration", or "conservation", involves the use of materials which must be traditional and of the type used when the piece was first made. The author assumes that the reader has already reached a level in woodworking skill higher than that required for straightforward DIY jobs, and the related crafts of polishing, upholstering and veneering are also described to the degree to which they are required in repair and restoration.