Why Restore Wood Furniture?

Series Summary

Wood furniture, new, used, or antique is a beautiful addition to any home. As wood furniture ages however, the finish and the glue can disintegrate. Obviously this causes the furniture to lose its aesthetic appeal; however, wood furniture does not need to be discarded when it shows age, falls apart, or even if it is damaged by fire. Wood furniture can be repaired and restored. Restoring wood furniture is done remarkably well by experts such as Ralph Jensen and can even be done by DIYers like yourself.

In this free video series learn about restoring wood furniture from carpenter and wood furniture restoring expert Ralph Jensen. Ralph will explain the various steps it takes to restore wood furniture and how to repair small blemishes on the wood furniture or antique furniture in your home. He will discuss the reasons why people restore their wood furniture, why it is important to fill wood pores in wood before staining, and how to stain wood. Watching these video clips can help you get a better idea of what is involved in restoring wood furniture, including antique furniture.

Video Transcript

"A lot of times people are kind of hesitant about doing anything with their furniture and they just leave it in their house, and leave it in their house, and leave it in their house, and leave it in their house. Until, eventually, no telling how long it could be in there. Could be 20, 30 years, could be 100 years. And the finish will start alligatoring, or crazing where it's kind of got these little fine cracks in there. Well, it's starting to disintegrate. And then, when those finishes disintegrate, then the glues start drying out and pretty soon you've got a piece that gets wobbly and the next thing you know you've got joints that get broken or drawers that start dragging because the drawers have been wearing out the drawer guides for all these years until it just, they start catching on the front then they start popping veneers out. And, all kinds of little things like that, that if you catch it while it's in the process of wearing out like that, then you can save yourself some money down the road. But if you let it go too long, those finishes need to be replaced, usually. And, if it's a really old piece, you want to be a little more hesitant about the finishes. Just do the repairs, keep it to a minimum, keep it strong and structural, then the finishes aren't as difficult to do. You don't have to remove everything, you can just work with French polishing a piece. And, that's done, that's a whole separate type of system. But, if it's not something you're really concerned about resale or I want to do this or that down the road, it's a piece you want to keep in your family, the best thing to do is really take care of it and keep that finish where it's strong and that will protect your piece. It will protect your glues after you've got your pieces re-glued and everything and it will last for another generation or so, so somebody else can take care of it."