Archives

Most furniture fractures can simply be glued back together. But some breaks are messy, leaving splintery fractures that won’t form a strong glue joint. You could replace the entire part,...

Learn how to repair typical damage Thirty-five years ago, I traded $125 worth of work for the mid-19th-century Empire chest-of-drawers pictured here. You could argue that I paid too much,...

After our last family birthday party I spent an hour scraping big globs of candle wax from several tables and our wood mantel. The next day, in response to my...

After reducing the volume of the original half-mortise using two strips of wood and addressing the crack in the shallow recess of the catch plate (read part two of the...

After fine-tuning the quirks with the new replacement lock and its brass catch plate, I turned my attention to the cedar hope chest’s half-mortise. I measured and compared the existing...

Last winter, a friend gifted me an old cedar hope chest. The piece was made by her late father-in-law, an amateur woodworker. Since she and her husband were preparing to...

Repair, strip and refinish to restore old pieces. Refinishing is a topic worthy of an entire book. In fact, restoring furniture includes all of woodworking and finishing because all skills...

After completing the reconstruction of the main broken molding piece, I glued the molding back onto its panel and began restoring the adjacent corner that was also damaged and required...

After completing step (F), I used a gouge to hollow out the cove portion of the molding. I selected a gouge with a sweep that matched the cove radius and...

Read part 1 After allowing the glue to set, I carefully removed the clamped molding from the guitar maker’s vise. At this point, I removed excess wood from the glued-up...

A few months ago, I restored a tall case of drawers in green. While the piece was not old, antique, or of substantial emotional value, it was still quite practical...

Learn how to restore your damaged furniture finishes with these practical tips and techniques. Over time, furniture finishes can become dull or develop various marks and blemishes. This guide will...