An antique child's chair skilfully
restored by Finewood craftsmen
Restoration
Sometimes a treasured piece or a family favourite remembered from childhood needs more than just a little TLC to bring it back to its former glory and return it to working order. There may just be damage and wear and tear from everyday use, rot or woodworm from storage or a piece missing from a valuable set that brings about the need for restoration. At Finewood we will carefully assess any pieces you feel need careful treatment and advise the best course of action depending on the condition and value of the piece concerned.
Correcting earlier repairs
Very often the pieces needing restoration are valuable antiques or family heirlooms
that have been in a home for many years with running repairs undertaken
to keep them serviceable, but with no consideration of posterity and integrity
of original features. These repairs can be corrected with careful work and our
craftsmen are able to draw on their years of experience and a substantial collection
of original reference material to ensure that repairs are respectful to the original
creator and in line with approved restoration techniques to maintain the value
of your item.
Attention to detail
It is important to inspect every bit of a piece carefully and not just the
parts that need obvious repair. All joints and the condition of each
piece of wood are checked to make sure that strengthening one area does not highlight
a weakness elsewhere. In some cases, we are actually able to remove a weak piece
of wood, replace it with new and then veneer the original surface back onto these
core components. It really is worth the effort.
Cleaning and re-polishing
Time served professionals will clean and re-polish each piece sympathetically,
selecting finishes that match the original or blend with your existing furniture.
Re-upholstery, re-rushing, re-caning
Specialists are employed in each of these disciplines to ensure traditional
techniques and styles are faithfully reproduced.
Replicas
It is quite often the case that heirlooms passed from generation to generation may lose a piece or two along the way. Our craftsmen are so experienced in creating replicas and completing depleted sets that you'll have difficulty distinguishing between new and old.
Alterations
Chairs that are too low, chairs that have been previously lowered for
nursing , tables that are too big or small for a room can all be sympathetically
returned to the original size or altered to fit your new lifestyle. This is always
done without compromise to the strength or integrity of the piece involved.
Rebuilding from scratch
There are no shortcuts to restoration and sometimes it is necessary
to totally dismantle a piece, clean, repair, treat any infestations and refit
all the joints in order to bring it back to life.
Unusual restorations
And it's not just furniture that comes to us for restoration. We
will consider most things created from wood that are in need of our careful attention.
We have recently taken up the challenge of making the bell wheels for the
recent rehanging of the bells at our local church. These were four foot diameter
made from a combination of traditional hardwoods.