How do I restore an old piece of wooden furniture?

The most common mistake in furniture restoration is doing too much. A stripped, sanded and repainted antique is usually worth a fraction of the same piece cleaned and repaired, and the character cannot be put back.

Safety

What you'll need

• Soft cloths, mild soap and a reviver or wax
• Wood glue and clamps or a strap clamp
• Fine abrasives and steel wool
• A lead paint test kit (optional)

Step by step

1. Assess before touching anything.What is the piece, roughly when was it made, is it worth money as it stands? A quick check of comparable sold items may change the plan entirely — some pieces should be conserved, not restored.
2. Test for lead paint on anything painted.Anything painted before 1992 could contain lead. A cheap test kit takes minutes. If it is positive, do not dry sand or heat strip it — get advice.
3. Clean it first and reassess.Mild soap and barely damp cloths, working small areas and drying immediately. A surprising number of pieces look transformed by cleaning alone, and it shows you what you actually have.
4. Try a reviver before stripping.A proprietary furniture reviver, or a careful application of wax, often restores a dull and scratched surface. Stripping is irreversible and should be the last option, not the first.
5. Understand what patina is worth.The colour, wear and surface an old piece has acquired is a large part of its value and appearance. Stripping it produces a piece that looks new and is worth much less.
6. Fix the structure before the surface.Loose joints, splits and missing feet first. There is no point finishing a piece that then has to be taken apart to be repaired.
7. Take loose joints apart to re-glue.Squirting glue into a wobbly joint does not work — the old glue is still there and the new glue cannot reach the wood. Ease the joint apart, clean off the old glue, then re-glue and clamp.
8. Use a reversible glue on antiques.Traditional hide glue can be undone with heat and moisture by a future restorer. Modern PVA cannot, which matters on anything of real age or value.
9. Clamp with a strap for chairs.A webbing strap clamp pulls a chair frame together evenly. Check it sits flat and square on a level surface before the glue sets.
10. Deal with woodworm honestly.Fresh holes with clean edges and powder beneath mean active infestation and need treating. Old grey holes with no powder are historic and need nothing.
11. Sand only where you must, and by hand.Machine sanding rounds edges and removes veneer astonishingly quickly. Most old furniture has a veneer under a millimetre thick, and once through it the piece is not recoverable.
12. Finish sympathetically.Wax over an existing finish, shellac for a traditional look, or oil for a working piece. Modern polyurethane on antique furniture looks wrong and is very difficult to reverse.
13. Know when to stop.The goal is a sound, usable, characterful piece — not a new-looking one. Dents, wear and colour variation are the reasons to have old furniture at all.

Tips

• Clean and revive before you even consider stripping. Most pieces need no more.
• Take loose joints apart to re-glue. Injecting glue into a wobbly joint never holds.
• Veneer is often less than a millimetre thick. One pass with a power sander goes through it.

Common mistakes

• Stripping and sanding an antique back to bare wood — Patina and original finish are a large part of both the value and the appearance of an old piece, and neither can be recreated. A stripped antique typically sells for a fraction of an honest, cleaned one.
• Gluing a loose joint without dismantling it — Old glue remains in the joint and blocks the new glue from reaching bare wood, so it holds for a few weeks and then fails again, usually having made a proper repair harder.

If it doesn't work

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