Techniques
The classic water stain/heat rings on a modern meeting room table
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Preparation and stain:
As professional wood finishers ‘Wood Stain’ is not the Ronseal Varnish type product. Stain to us is colour; stain, in our terms, is a wood dye. This dye (stain) is generally applied with a rag after sanding and preparing the wood. Having prepared the piece, the required colour/shade is mixed and applied prior to the application of the shellac polish or in some cases, varnish.
French polishing:
We use the traditional techniques to apply shellac polishes to achieve the perfect finish. The finish can be a light satin low shine, up to a full gloss ‘piano’ finish. It is sometimes said that “you can’t French polish oak” (or some other timber). But in fact, any wood can be French polished; it is purely dependent on taste and the depth of shine wanted.
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Wax finishing:
Usually a wax polish is used over the shellac polishing to complete the piece. There are also occasions when a purely wax finish is required. Rubbing the wax directly into the bare wood requires much time and ‘elbow grease' but creates a beautifully deep yet soft shine.
Heat rings & water damage:
Heat causes polish to become opaque, especially the top layer. That can easily be removed with an abrasive and polished out. If the heat source has been left too long then the damage will extend to the full depth of the finish and a re-polish will be required.
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Water damage:
There are some occasions when a lessening of the damage mark is all that can be achieved. However, typically, the ‘varnish’ is all that is damaged and a good sanding back to the bare wood and re-polishing will bring it back to life.
Repairs and rebuilds:
Items are often brought to Barcombe Wood Finish in ‘kit form’, that is a box of bits. We can sort, assemble and professionally join these pieces to re-create a piece of furniture, including custom-making any missing pieces.
Broken chairs, loose joints, frame and stretcher rails:
Often when chairs with loose joints are brought in to the workshop, the best way to fix the issue is to ‘break’ the joint completely, by opening up the frame, gluing and re-assembling. Damaged and broken rails can generally be replaced if they are not repairable.
Broken chairs, legs:
Legs are repairable, but only when there is enough timber to form a good joint. A leg repair has to be strong for obvious reasons. If insufficient wood is available then usually a replacement can be made depending on the style of the chair. We have sometimes repaired legs with the proviso that the joint is weak and should therefore only be a decorative piece.
Veneer repairs:
Veneer is a very thin layer of wood, and very often a high quality wood. It has to be, to be cut that thinly. In days past veneer would be stuck over pine and often plain mahogany to give the look of a more expensive timber. Veneer is also used to produce decorative designs made in
marquetry and to add grain patterns, i.e. mahogany swirls or burr walnuts. Veneer can be repaired, replaced polished in the same way as its solid wood counter part.
Leather & skivers for desks:
For bureau writing tables, and tops. We have a supplier who can supply most sizes, colours and design tooling. Fitted here at the workshop in Goring-by-Sea.
Colour & veneer matching: Barcombe Wood Finish holds a wide selection of veneers that can be matched to your piece. As with all our repairs, any new timbers added will be coloured and polished to look as though they have been a part of that piece for many years. It is quite simply What We Do.