
Restoration Materials Visit our new dedicated materials website
at Seat Weaving Supplies for Hand cane, Pre-woven cane panelling, Plastic
cane for radiators, Round centre cane, Paper fibre rush, Pre-twisted
natural rush cord, DIY seat and restoration kits
Antique restoration materials Order and contact form

Antiques for Sale Restored antiques
Antiques
of tomorrow Antique and vintage footstools Awaiting restoration

Seat Restoration
Service How much does it cost?
History and Education A brief history of canework A brief history of rushwork Do you want to learn? All
about us Where to see us at work The "How to" page |
Restoration or Conservation?
Good restoration
will always conserve the integrity of the piece and should pass
totally unnoticed. Antique furniture should look cherished after
a visit to the workshop, not new and over restored. Like an ageing
car, regular maintenance and repair is the best and most economical
way to keep furniture in good condition. Occasional cleaning of
the old finish, or re-gluing of loose joints will prevent more serious
problems from developing in the longer term. Even when furniture
has suffered major accidental damage, it can be successfully minimised.
Broken or missing parts can be made from old wood and distressed
to look original, matching the patina of age and preserving family
heirlooms for future generations. What follows is a price guide
for our services and photographs of two very different restorations
that we have carried out.
Seat
Restoration Price Guide
Hand
woven cane seating from 80p per frame hole. For example
and average bedroom chair seat, (usually 80-90 holes)
would cost from £64-£72 for us to reseat,
(a DIY kit is £18). To lightly tint the new cane
to look old would cost an extra £5-£10 per
panel. Sunburst such as the example shown right, blind
or double sided work attracts a premium on standard
price. |

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Panel
cane seating (Habitat/Bauhaus chrome style chairs) from
£35 per average seat panel, £20 per back
panel, tinting to match original from £5 per panel
(A DIY panel kit is £12). See example left - the
seat panel on this tub chair has been replaced then
colour matched to the original back panelling, the small
sample strip on top of the seat is to show the natural
colour of fresh cane. |
Danish
cord seats are woven using a specially manufactured
paper fibre cord usually onto a series of "L"
shaped nails on the inside of the seat rails (sometimes
staples were used). The average replacement cost of
a seat in a single rail chair is £70.The example
shown top right is a typical Danish cord "two by
two" weave
We also
specialise in the reseating of Hans Wegner Wishbone
chairs and other double sided and double railed Danish
cord work. The approximate cost of reseating a Wishbone
chair such as shown to the lower right is £125. |


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Rush
seating is available in a choice of materials from £25,
(footstool sized seat). For example an average dining
seat (16" x 18") would cost £55 in paper
fibre rush, (a DIY kit is £12) and £65 -
£70 in real rush, The example left is a "covered
corner" drop in seat re-woven by us using "Reel
Rush". Such seats are difficult and time consuming
to weave and will cost on average a £10 - £15
premium over most other designs. Hand twisted rush starts
from £120 per seat. |
We
are also able to restore other specialised woven seating
such as seagrass, close caning ("skeined"),
willow, reed, shaker tape, rhympie, splint and centre
cane. The right hand photo is close woven rattan/flat
cane in the willow tradition. The costs for these services
are available on request. |

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A
Vico Magistretti 1970's dining chair, the drop in seat,
(right) has been matched in design. These popular seats
cost from £65 each to replace. |
Woven Pot Handle Restoration
Price Guide
Poole
pottery biscuit barrels, Tudric pewter tea and coffee
pots, trinket boxes - there were many manufacturers
who created handles using intricately woven cane or
willow. We can restore these for you, the typical cost
is between £15 and £25 depending on the
size of the handle and complexity of the pattern. |

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A typical Tudric teapot
with a newly woven handle covering in an intricate chevron
design. |
Traditional Antique "Cabinet"
Restoration
We offer
a full hand cleaning/stripping, repair and re-finishing
service for all antique furniture. (NO CAUSTIC DIPPING!).
The availability
of this service is very limited and unfortunately the waiting time can be
quite long. Due to the time consuming nature of careful
restoration and the availability of workshop space only
one or two larger projects will be worked on at any
one time.
Repairs
including turning, copy antique spindles from £15
- French polish, oil and wax finishes available - (sorry
- no booth sprayed Ercol type finishes) - Re-veneering
and marquetry repairs, missing carvings matched. |
 
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A
complete "rebuild". One leg was missing, two
lower drawers had been "modified" to create
a filing drawer, two large carcass splits to one pedestal
had opened up, there were several large cigarette burns
and pencil sharpener fixing holes through the top surface
and very little of the skiver leather survived. It was
altogether neglected, veneer was damaged and several
mouldings were missing. The restoration was long and
painstaking but very satisfying, especially when the
desk turned out to have an interesting provenance. On
stripping the carcass out we had found a letter from
the 1930's ordering theatre tickets. It turned out that
the desk had been removed from the offices of a well
loved Dorset Victorian theatre on its closure 12 years
previously. |
A
handsome Victorian "Oliver Goldsmith"stick
back chair needing new rails and leg top, re-gluing,
colour matching and re-finishing. |
 
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Former Glory - Ferndown - Dorset - England - Telephone/Fax
0044 (0)1202 895859
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© 2002-2008, please ask permission before reproducing our hard
work |