Quoting a Repair You Cannot Fully SeeNew!!
I remember sitting in my workshop back in the late nineties, staring at a job ticket for a client who wanted a simple door hinge replaced, only to realize I’d spent more on petrol and travel than the actual repair was worth. I’d gone out there thinking I was doing a favour, but I was […]
Getting Another Five Years From a Bench
Most people think that once a garden chair starts wobbling or the wood begins to grey, it’s time to head down to the big-box store and buy a cheap replacement. They’ll tell you it's easier to scrap it than to learn how to repair outdoor furniture for another season, but that’s a load of rubbish […]
Clamping Something With No Flat Faces
I’ve spent more hours than I care to count staring down a piece of timber that simply refused to behave, usually while a massive, expensive power clamp sat uselessly on my bench. Most blokes think the answer to a wonky joint is to just buy a bigger, more expensive machine, but that’s a load of […]
Finding Timber That Matches a 1930s Piece
I’ve spent forty years watching people walk into a timber yard and spend a fortune on expensive stains and chemical aging kits, thinking that’s the secret to how to match old timber. It’s a bloody joke. They spend three days layering tinted varnishes only to end up with something that looks like a plastic imitation […]
Matching a Finish on a Test Piece
I remember a young lad in my college workshop, years ago, who thought he could solve a repair by slapping a fresh coat of modern polyurethane over a Victorian sideboard. He spent three hours with a machine, only to end up with a patch that looked like a brightly coloured bruise on an old man's […]
Repairing So the Next Person Can Undo It
I spent forty years on-site and another ten in the classroom, and if there’s one thing that gets my blood boiling, it’s the modern obsession with "permanent" fixes. You go into any hardware shop today and they’ll try to sell you a tube of high-strength epoxy or a chemical resin that promises to fix anything […]
Opening Up Someone Else's Work
I remember sitting in my workshop last Tuesday, staring at a mahogany vanity someone had dropped off. It was a mess of modern, flimsy joinery and cheap, plastic-coated veneers that felt more like cardboard than wood. People today seem to think that once a piece of furniture loses its luster or a joint goes loose, […]
When a Repair Is the Wrong Answer
I remember sitting at my workbench back in '84, staring at a bevel edge chisel with a chipped blade that looked more like a jagged rock than a cutting tool. My apprentice kept insisting we just toss it and buy a new one from the local supplier—the same lot that was making a killing selling […]
Assessing Woodworm Before Treating It
I remember sitting in my workshop last Tuesday, staring at a Victorian chair that looked more like Swiss cheese than furniture. Most people will tell you that you need to blast it with chemical sprays or hide the mess under a thick layer of plastic filler, but that’s just a way to mask a problem […]
Rebuilding a Knocked Corner
I remember standing over a piece of seasoned oak in my workshop back in the nineties, staring at a corner that had been absolutely smashed by a heavy mallet. The young apprentice beside me immediately reached for a tub of pre-mixed wood filler and a sander, convinced that a bit of "plastic" would hide the […]