Restoration | Kenta Takeshige

Furniture: Louis-Philippe style Commode

Material: Pine, Oak / Veneer: Mahogany, Oak

The wood grain on the front of this cabinet has a book matching. The wooden base is made of pine. The cabinet is veneered on the outside in mahogany and on the inside in oak. It has a solid back made of oak.

Before the restoration, there were splits everywhere on the doors along the simple base frame. Other splits on the top and side panels were caused by splits of the pine base. The cabinet had no solidity and it had been nailed from the top to keep the construction together. There were some traces of past restorations.

During the restoration, I removed the old polishing layers and totally dismantled the cabinet. I peeled off the multiplex on the inside of the side panels that were applied to stop the splitting of the wood and I reinforced the side panel frames against further splitting. I repaired broken joints and legs, and reassembled the construction. I dismantled the drawer and replaced parts of the bottom of the drawer sides which was needed because of wear-and-tear of bottom-run. I reassembled the drawer and adjusted the function by shaving the wood and installing drawer kickers. I fixated the cabinet top on the body while paying attention for the capability of wood movement. I peeled off the veneer partially in order to reinforce the base frames of the doors. I replaced missing veneer and moulding, made sure everything fitted perfectly. I filled splits with solid mahogany, modified the colour of new wood and applied French polishing.

Furniture: Napoleon III style Secrétaire

Material: Oak, Mahogany, Brass / Veneer: Mahogany, Ebony

A writing desk with ebony and brass inlay. A cylinder cover slides open when the table is pulled out. It had splits on the surface, some inlaid ebony and brass were loose or missing, and parts of mahogany veneer had also broken off. The movement of cylinder was stiff.

I removed old polish layers, and replaced missing veneer and brass strips. I filled splits with massive mahogany, took care of the movement of the cylinder. I polished it again with shellac.

The cause of splits on the surface of veneer lies in the wooden base which is restricted in movement until splits relieve the stress. These splits affect the veneer surface too.

Inlaid metal can loosen from veneered furniture because of less bonding strength between wood and metal, and lesser capacity of movement than wood.

There is a difficulty to inlay metal because of heat conduction which deforms thin sheets and strips of metal while animal glue is used hot and clamped with heated block. Moreover, friction heat by sanding makes the metal warm and reactivates the animal glue, resulting in the metal inlay to come off again. There is an alternative animal glue which has a very high glueing effect; fish glue modified for cold use.

Furniture: Empire style Commode

Material: Oak, Mahogany, Brass / Veneer: Mahogany

The veneer had huge damage on all drawer fronts and carcass rails. It all had to be removed. It was also hard to pull out the drawers because of wear and tear of runners. I needed to re-shave the drawers as well. There were splits on side panels and drawer bottoms.

I removed the polish layers and veneer. I prepared new veneer for the full length of the front surface and laid them out successively according to the pattern of grain. 7 drawers show continuously a whole grain of Mahogany. I replaced the damaged runners by new runners and shaved drawers in order to regain the function. I filled splits on side panels and bottoms of drawers with massive wood, and polished brass mounts. I modified the colour of new veneer by using dichromate and applied French polishing.

Removing the remaining old polish layers is in general the first thing to do on restoration projects. Except in the case of a partial restoration or when the value of the antique depends on its patina.

Furniture: Swedish Salon Chair

Material: Tiger Wood

This seat rail has a veneered surface.

I removed former varnish and replaced missing veneer pieces. I glued the loose crest rail and back post anew and modified the colour. French polishing was applied.