Furniture repair is the craft of making broken or worn furniture usable again. It may include the preservation of old furniture, which is referred to as restoration. The craft of furniture repair requires a number of different skills including woodworking, metalworking, wood finishing, caning (furniture), woodturning, and upholstery.
Woodworking repair
Wood is most abundantly used raw material to make a furniture piece.
[ Wood is the most abundantly used raw material for furniture.] Wood provides the structure for upholstered pieces and is what finishes are applied to. Repairing wood requires knowledge of:
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Types of wood
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Types of furniture joinery
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Types of glue
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Woodworking techniques
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Woodworking tools
Some woodworking repairs can be done as DIY projects while others require more skilled woodworkers to complete. The most complex repairs involve reproducing replacement parts as well as restoring antiques.
Finish repair
Refinishing means the existing finish is removed before a new finish is applied, whereas restoration refers to the process in which the original finish is cleaned, revived, and protected.
[The Weekend Refinisher, Ballantine Books, 2014, P. 52.] Restoration protects the history and value of antique furniture.
Finish repair requires understanding the types of finishes and the corresponding techniques to clean, repair, and apply the finishes. The most common finishes include:
Reupholstery
The process of recovering a piece of upholstered furniture with new fabric is called reupholstery. It begins with removing the existing
upholstery, including the dust cover, tacks, fabric, muslin, padding, burlap, webbing, and springs. Once the furniture has been stripped of all upholstery, it can be repaired as the wooden joints of old furniture typically become loose. New upholstery should be reinstalled with considerations of reusing some of the old materials, such as horsehair, or replacing it with new materials.
[The Furniture Bible, Artisan, 2014, P. 64.]
Antique restoration
Antiques need to be handled with care to preserve their value. As a rule of thumb, restoring up to 30 percent of the piece is acceptable on an antique. Any more than 30 percent seriously undermines the value.
[The Furniture Bible, Artisan, 2014, P. 268.]
Modern glue should not be used on the joints of antique furniture. Hide glue should be used as can be disassembled in the future if repairs are needed.[Courtnall 1999, p. 63.]
Furniture repair industry
This industry is involved in reupholstering, refinishing, repairing and restoring furniture.
[ Furniture repair industry description.] The NIACS industry code is 811420 and includes:
[ Furniture repair industry description.][ Office Furniture Company]
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Reupholstering furniture
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Refinishing furniture
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Repairing and restoring furniture
Entertainment
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The Repair Shop is a British television show
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"Furniture To Go" was a television show on PBS by Ed Feldman and Joe L'Erario
[ Television show on PBS.]
