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 Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration * Restoration ecology ...

. The craft of furniture repair requires a number of different skills including

woodworking Woodworking is the skill of making items from wood, and includes cabinet making (cabinetry and furniture), wood carving, woodworking joints, joinery, carpentry, and woodturning. History Along with Rock (geology), stone, clay and animal parts, ...

metalworking Metalworking is the process of shaping and reshaping metals to create useful objects, parts, assemblies, and large scale structures. As a term it covers a wide and diverse range of processes, skills, and tools for producing objects on every scale ...

wood finishing Wood finishing refers to the process of refining or protecting a wooden surface, especially in the production of furniture where typically it represents between 5 and 30% of manufacturing costs. Finishing is the final step of the manufacturing ...

caning (furniture) In the context of furniture, caning is a method of weaving chair seats and other furniture either while building new chairs or in the process of cane chair repair. In common use, "cane" may refer to any plant with a long, thin stem. However, t ...

woodturning Woodturning is the craft of using a wood lathe with hand-held tools to cut a shape that is symmetrical around the axis of rotation. Like the potter's wheel, the wood lathe is a simple mechanism that can generate a variety of forms. The operator ...

, and

upholstery Upholstery is the work of providing furniture, especially seats, with padding, springs, webbing, and fabric or leather covers. The word also refers to the materials used to upholster something. ''Upholstery'' comes from the Middle English word ...

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: * Types of wood * Types of furniture joinery * Types of glue * Woodworking techniques * 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 In woodworking and the decorative arts, refinishing refers to the act of repairing or reapplying the wood finishing on an object. In practice, this may apply to the paint or wood finish top coat, lacquer or varnish. The artisan or restorer is ...

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: * Boiled

linseed oil Linseed oil, also known as flaxseed oil or flax oil (in its edible form), is a colourless to yellowish oil obtained from the dried, ripened seeds of the flax plant (''Linum usitatissimum''). The oil is obtained by pressing, sometimes followed by ...

Tung oil Tung oil or China wood oil is a drying oil obtained by pressing the seed from the nut of the tung tree (''Vernicia fordii''). The oil and its use are believed to have originated in ancient China and appear in the writings of Confucius from abou ...

Wax Waxes are a diverse class of organic compounds that are lipophilic, malleable solids near ambient temperatures. They include higher alkanes and lipids, typically with melting points above about 40 °C (104 °F), melting to giv ...

Shellac Shellac () is a resin secreted by the female lac bug on trees in the forests of India and Thailand. It is processed and sold as dry flakes and dissolved in alcohol to make liquid shellac, which is used as a brush-on colorant, food glaze and ...

Lacquer Lacquer is a type of hard and usually shiny coating or finish applied to materials such as wood or metal. It is most often made from resin extracted from trees and waxes and has been in use since antiquity. Asian lacquerware, which may be ca ...

Polyurethane Polyurethane (; often abbreviated PUR and PU) refers to a class of polymers composed of organic chemistry, organic units joined by carbamate (urethane) links. In contrast to other common polymers such as polyethylene and polystyrene, polyurethan ...

Reupholstery

The process of recovering a piece of upholstered furniture with new fabric is called reupholstery. It begins with removing the existing

, 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
/ref> * Reupholstering furniture *

furniture * Repairing and restoring furniture

Entertainment

The Repair Shop ''The Repair Shop'' is a British daytime television show made by production company Ricochet that aired on BBC Two for series 1 to 3 and on BBC One for series 4 onwards, in which family heirlooms are restored for their owners by numerous experts ...

is a British television show * "Furniture To Go" was a television show on PBS by Ed Feldman and Joe L'Erario Television show on PBS.

References

{{Woodworking Decorative arts Furniture Woodworking