Like most of our customers, you probably have a sentimental attachment to the furniture you want restored. Since 1979 we have restored furniture for more than 17,000 customers in the Kansas City Area. In the process, we have answered many questions - perhaps just like yours.
We've created this checklist to help you obtain the result you want and to keep your valuable furniture for many years to come.
1. Never repair your own furniture unless you are absolutely certain you are performing the right procedure. Many "homespun" repairs do more harm than good. One of the most common homespun repairs is on wobbling chairs. The amateur handyperson turns the chair upside down, squirts some glue into the hole, lets it dry and assumes the problem is solved. Sometimes, the person will hammer a nail into the area making matters worse. By this time the correct repairs will be even more expensive because the glue and the nail must be removed without further damaging the wood.
2. When you have your furniture refinished, insist that it be hand stripped with the flow-over brush system. Dip stripping, a common practice, can cause irreparable damage. Dip stripping is placing the furniture item in a vat of acid until the old finish is removed but not so long as to damage the wood or joints, but that is just what frequently happens. Hand stripping is more work, takes longer and costs more to strip but saves in other costs.
3. Request that no metal parts - such as brads, nails or screws - be used to hold your furniture together. Metal tears and splits the grain of the wood. The metal does not flex with natural wood movement. Today's wood glues, when used properly with clamps, are stronger than the wood itself.
4. Can your furniture restoration shop make furniture as well as repair it? A shop that is prepared to make furniture also knows how the furniture should be designed to achieve the utmost strength and design. A shop that can make furniture has the necessary tooling to make the best parts and repairs.
5. Test your shop's knowledge about matching and repairing the finish of your furniture. Repairing or matching the finish on your furniture involves a great many variables. The wood, age, discoloration, stain, color, darkness, evenness, transparency, depth, sheen and faux techniques should all come into consideration.
6. Insist that your furniture repairs are not only strong and look good, but that they are also repairable in the future. Choose a finish that not only looks and wears well but that is repairable and refinishable. Choose a repair that recognizes that next time it might break on the next layer of wood fibers.
7. For finish application, request that an "atomized air gun" be used. Finishes can be applied by hand, rag, brush, airless gun or air gun. Only the last, the air gun, is specifically designed for fine furniture grade work providing just the correct mixtures and flow of liquids.
8. Insist that your repair shop uses a dust-controlled spray booth. Such booths are costly but they are worth the investment for quality work. Clean and dust-free, you obtain a top-quality result. Only with a qualified spray booth can the finish work be performed in an environmentally friendly way.
9. Ask about your repair shop's training program and staff stability. Woodworking is a profession and an art form. To achieve excellence in this profession requires dedication, experience, knowledge and considerable investment in high-quality equipment. Our woodworkers constantly study the latest professional journals and latest equipment and techniques.
10. Know how you want to use the piece before you restore it. There is a difference in restoring an item for everyday use and restoring primarily for decorative appearance. It is one thing to simply refinish an item, but is another to restore it or make it match another item.
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