Furniture Repair & Refinishing

As I faced the prospect of attempting to repair and rejuvenate several inherited family antiques, and having no knowledge of how to go about it, I bought this book along with three others in hopes of finding a guide to help me get me through it. Almost immediately, this book seemed to answer my questions in terms of both process and materials. My first project was to recondition our dinning room table - circa 1920s. With age it had gained many water and heat marks and was too unsightly to be used without a table cloth. Following the general outlines of the book, I soon had the table looking quite lovely. My next project was to repair and recondition an old grandfather clock. My father had helped to build it with a friend of his back in the 1950s. It is a nice piece - about seven feet tall - but damaged in several places most likely because of the busy location it had in entrance hall of my parents home. The most obvious damage was on the door which fronted the casing holding the pendulum and weights. There were several water marks and a very conspicuous dent in the door. Again, using suggestions from the book, I removed the door and used steel wool and mineral spirits to remove the largest water stain, but I was concerned when I realized that the area of the repair was much lighter than the rest of the piece. I was afraid that I may have already damaged the piece badly and was concerned if I went any further without expert advice I might damage it further. My wife suggested that I take it to someone who did the work for a living and said that on her normal route into town that she past a storefront that advertised furniture refinishing. She also said that she had heard indirectly, that the owner of the shop did good work. With this recommendation, I looked up the shop in the phone book and called to see if I could get some advice. When I finally got the owner, he said that he would be happy to talk to me and that he would be available that afternoon. When the shop owner first saw the case door that I brought with me, I was almost immediately relieved. He did not look worried as though there might be a major problem. He took a clean rag, added some mineral spirits to the rag and wiped the area that I had worked on. Basically, he said he thought it was ok and that he thought the area would return to the same color as the rest of the piece once I refinished it with shellac. As we chatted, he asked how I had gotten into the job and I told him about the books I had been reading. He said he had once written such a book and asked if I might be using the book he had written. He retrieved a copy from his desk, and sure enough, it is this book which he had written. Mr. Hingley is an enjoyable individual to know in person and I think you will find this book an excellent resource. His approach focuses on doing only that which is necessary to recover the beauty and functionality of wood furniture as opposed to always refinishing old pi

Another fantastic book on how to repair wood furniture. I was able to correctly, and easily repair several old furniture items. Highly recommend this book for those who are involved in furniture repair, as I am.

If you only wish to buy one book on repair of old furniture, this is the book. The author is a true specialist within the field and everything is explained and illustrated excellently. In addition it's a very pretty book with many fine photos. The only little flaw is that the info on refinishing is a little scattered. Anyway, the info is there. Go buy the book!

This is a great introduction book to furniture repair.The book is organized in these main sections:1. Tools and materials 63 pp.2. Structural repairs 98 pp.3. Preserving an original finish 20 pp.4. Stripping, finishing, and hardware restoration 43 pp.The most valuable for me was the section on structural repairs. Over 20 projects that need various repair jobs, each is done, step by step, illustrated with lots of clear, full-color photos.This book would well-equip you to handle most repairs of a non-conservation nature (not highly valuable pieces).Brian, if you're listening, I'd like to see you do a book this size on touch up, repair and color matching!

This is a fantastic book. You could actually teach from it it is so detailed and comprehensive. The author includes the small details that most how-to books leave out. With this book, you can actually complete a project from start to finish. With most books, there are huge gaps in the information that leave you guessing.