The Technique of FURNITURE MAKING

Surface damage

Slight bruising of surfaces where the actual fibres are not fractured can often be lifted by the repeated application of a heated iron tip through a wet cloth, creating sufficient steam to swell the fibres up. Bruises in bare wood can also be lifted by flooding the bruise with methylated spirit and setting fire to it, but the wood must not be scorched. There is no guarantee that the bruises will be eradicated entirely, for much depends on the elasticity of the wood fibres and their ability to recover, but it is always worth a trial. Deeper scratches, dents and bad bruising will have to be cut out and plugged with wood or filled with hard stoppers, plastic wood, etc. coloured to match the finished work. If wood plugs are used they should be cut to an elongated diamond shape with the grain direction carefully matched, placed on the damaged surface, scribed round and the recess cut; the plugs should be slightly bevelled in the thickness for a close fit. All possible help should be given to the polisher by choosing wood of the same species and grain configuration, preferably from old sources in the case of antique furniture, for while he will be able to match colours he cannot change or disguise the texture of a wood. Before gluing in the diamonds a piece of white chalk rubbed round the edges will often hold back a dark glue-line in light-coloured timbers. Slight depressions in work polished with nitrocellulose or synthetic finishes can sometimes be filled by pouring a little of the mixed lacquer into a tin lid and leaving it to set until it gels; it can then be worked into the depressions like putty, allowed to harden thoroughly and then cut off. Figure 542:1 shows various surface repairs to a veneered chest with all cuts tapered as mentioned above.

BLISTERS, etc.

Blisters in modern work can usually be pricked or cut with a knife along the grain and relaid (see Veneering, marquetry and inlay, Chapter 32) but large blisters in old thick saw-cut veneers may not readily respond to treatment. If the whole of the veneered surface has to be lifted off and replaced on a fresh groundwork, it may be possible to lift the veneers by steaming or repeatedly swabbing with hot water. Some veneers may be too tough or too brittle for this treatment, and the whole of the ground may have to be planed off down to a level at which the water will soak through the back and loosen the glue. This latter method is only worth the very considerable labour involved if the top surface is especially valuable, and the patina of age must be preserved.

INLAY REPAIRS

Figures 543-5 show the extensive renovation and repair of a set of six Regency-style chairs carried out by Mr CM. Lacey of Brighton, England. (The appellations 'Genuine Antique', 'Genuine Regency' etc., etc., cannot be applied to any furniture made after 1830, which is the fixed datum line. As it would be impossible to distinguish between furniture of the same type or style made in, say. 1820 and 1840, any claim to genuineness must be supported by an original bill of sale or other trustworthy documentary evidence. The terms 'Antique Style', 'Regency Style', etc. therefore mean exactly what they say, i. e. 'in the style of. . .'. They could be genuine antique but are not claimed as such). The chairs in question were beech framed stained in imitation of rosewood, with a beautifully executed Boulle inlay of brass and rosewood veneer on the curved back rails; as there was no point in using old beech, even if it could be obtained (beech is highly susceptible to woodworm), new wood was used throughout. As some of the Boulle inlays were damaged and others althogether missing, rubbings of a complete inlay were taken, a clear tracing made and glued to sheet brass of equivalent thickness and colour (brass is obtainable in several tones and colours according to the composition), and

544 Brass inlay part cut 544 Brass inlay part cut

the brass sheet then glued to a thick rosewood veneer. The pattern was then cut out with a fine jewellers' piercing saw, the parts assembled and glued to the rails with shaped cauls and G- cramps/C-clamps. All new work was then stained, the rosewood markings drawn in with Indian ink, which was the usual practice of the time. and french polished. It was then distressed by the usual methods, i. e. beating with rubber or hide hammers, hammer-heads covered in sacking, barbed-wire wrapped round a stick, round pebbles, etc., and scratched with the milled edge of a new coin, with parts which would be expected to show wear rasped or sanded away. No attempt was made to fake or deliberately deceive with the inclusion of worm - eaten timber or simulated worm holes, and the distressing was only carried out sufficiently to fade in the new work with the old. The completed chairs were then sold in good faith and to a reputable dealer as 'Regency Style, extensively renovated".