Restoration | Kenta Takeshige

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.

Furniture: Round Cabinet

Material: Pine, Cherry, Oak / Veneer: European Walnut, Oak

A veneered cabinet in walnut containing 4 oak pillars, a marble table top and inlayed “rose des vents” (compass rose) on round surfaces.

I removed old French polishing layers and replaced missing veneer. I removed blisters and glued loose veneer. I finished with French polishing.

Additional information about veneered furniture: animal glue is used to glue veneer. Animal glue was the traditional adhesive before white glue. There are some different kinds of animal glue. To glue veneer, hide glue is chosen because of its elastic bonds. Wood will always keep moving according to atmospheric relative humidity, and hide glue has the flexibility to follow this movement. Recently, the regulation of room temperature by heating systems is responsible for super dryness in winter, resulting in splitting wood and perishing animal glue.

Furniture: Colonial Chair

I disassembled the chair, removed old animal glue. I repaired broken joints, and reassembled the construction. I modified the color with wood-dye. I treated and sealed worm-eaten parts, and applied patina wax.

Most chair restorations are to refasten loose joints. Deterioration of animal glue, processes of wood contraction, and the load of human weight are the main causes of loose or broken joints.

The purpose of sealing worm-eaten holes is mainly for the aesthetic aspect and to avoid wood dust coming out.

Furniture: Japanese Meiji period Cabinet “Choba dansu”

Material: Japanese Cypress, Japanese Zelkova

This cabinet had been well kept by a family in old farmhouse in Gifu prefecture. There is an inked date of manufacturing on the bottom of a drawer.

I dismantled the body as much as I needed, cleaned parts, replaced the worm-eaten base with new pieces, added missing parts, and rebuilt the construction. For the finishing layer I used beeswax.