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Furniture Refinishing New York City by the Old World craftsmen New York magazine said are "The Best of New York"
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Furniture Refinish NYC is often the most dramatic procedure of restoration. Furniture Refinishing can be as unobtrusive as touching-up scratches or damages on-site, or might require the complete removal of existing finish, dyeing and staining and application of a new finish. If an original furniture finish can be maintained, that is often the preferred alternative. However, finishes used from the very beginning of the 20th century until today were usually nitrocellulose lacquer, or later derivative of lacquer or other catalyzed finish. These modern furniture finishes contain plasticizers that evaporate out of the finish over a period of decades, and when the plasticizer is gone, or light damages the finish, the finish is brittle, heat marks badly, loses adhesion with the wood beneath, and generally performs poorly in use. Such decayed furniture finishes are usually better to remove than trying to save. Any finish put over the top of such a brittle finish, will transmit its problems through any new finish put over them.
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Dining Table Refinished, Glossy Closed Pore |
Closed pore finish after Refinished |
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Refinishing of Dining table of Glossy Lacquer Finish
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Furniture Glossy Closed Pore Dining Table After
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Glossy Closed Pore Dining Table During Finish Buildup |
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Early 18th Century Queen Anne Period Marquetry Chest of Drawers, after French Polishing: |
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Desk refinished by French Polishing, High Gloss: |
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Chinese camphor wood chest with paint spattered and stains, removed without stripping. Existing finish refurbished |
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Modern Root Table, refinished: |
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Refinishing to Change Color and match other furniture: |
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Typical 1st half 20th Century Dining Table Top before and after |
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Turn of the Century Vitrine: |
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After stripping |
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Skillful refurbished depends on careful preparation. If the finish is not removed thoroughly, the new finish will not last as it should and will be susceptible to loss of adhesion, cloudiness or flaking off of the finish. Sanding is another critical issue. Sanding the wood thoroughly will remove wood bleached over the years of exposure to light, and erases the patina of the furniture. Loose or missing veneer and inlays must be reglued or replaced. |
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Sun Bleaching of Rosewood on Herman Miller Eames Chair: |
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Sunlight bleaching. The light rosewood on the outside of the upper furniture shell of an Eames Lounge looked like the rosewood of the lower shell on the inside of the Lounge below it over 30 years ago, but it was covered by upholstery and didn't bleach from light |
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Chinese Rosewood Antique Desk |
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Sunbleaching of the furniture exterior of these Chinese Desk pedestals leaves the wood color highly uneven; to sand or not to sand? The answer to this question by its owner was to sand: |
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Refinishing 17th or 18th Century Ships' furniture Table to remove gray/black discoloration from humidity |
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Table furniture before refinishing |
Gray/black bacterial discoloration furniture from humidity |
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Furniture Table stripped, bacterial gray discoloration eliminated |
After furniture refinishing, shellac & wax finish |
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Danish Modern Oil-Finished Dining Table before and after refinishing and veneer inlays: |
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Turn of Century Oak Veneer Dining Table in poor condition, with Dutchman Inlays, and a re-carved apron which is also a Drawer front. |
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Removing lacquer finish and furniture refinish natural color |
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Old water stains, appearing as black blemishes in the wood, may be removed chemically with the proper acid, that furniture might not be removable by sanding, as such staining can be over 1/4" deep, and veneer is only 1/40" on modern furniture, or less. Furniture stains can be removed without altering the patina of the furniture, and can dramatically improve the appearance without sanding.
Furniture Staining and dyeing are also key elements in successful refinish. By combining the use of dyes and stains, an antique patina may be reproduced and difficult for an expert to discriminate between an original finish, and refurbished wood. We employ artists trained as classical artists in four or five-year European college level art schools, that possess exceptional abilities in color matching, and graining damaged or replacement wood elements, to blend in inlaid with adjacent wood. Our artists are key factors in our being able to say, “if you can see repair work, then it has not been well done”. Under the hands of a skilled touch-up artist, damages disappear. |
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Woodrow Wilson Table at Princeton College - refinished |
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Faux finishing of an inexpensive carved mirror, to give it more of an old walnut feel. |
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Cabinet used for Retail Display at Juicy Couture
This Victorian Period Mahogany and Bamboo display cabinet, was left largely distressed, with some repair of missing elements, and then refurbished in a whitewash glaze:
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Missing bamboo pilasters replace, missing base mahogaany and beveled tempered glass replaced, and refinished |
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Gallery
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President Woodrow Wilson's office Bank of England Chairs
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