Photo: Kristin Roach / Flickr

If you have an old piece of furniture that is missing a section and you want to repair it, remember to construct the new part so that it is in keeping with the original design. Keep it simple rather than making it fancy, if the piece calls for it. Matching the wood is the next challenge as old wood will often have a different colour and grain to new wood of the same variety. Using old parts can help.

Getting creative

If you’re creating a new section out of new wood, you want it to blend in with the old wood. You have to have the eye of an artist for some pieces. There are considerations like the darkening of old wood with time, the patina that the piece has built up over time and such things as the undertones in the wood.

Depending on what you’re trying to achieve, you might have to get quite creative. The piece may have to be stripped, the wood bleached or simply colour matched with finishing oils. The old wood may need a different finishing oil to the new wood to achieve a match.

Find old parts

To get past this problem, try and reuse old parts or find old parts at garage sales or on eBay. The advantage is that these old parts will have the patina of age. With a little TLC, you can finish them up well and save yourself the time and expense of working with old and new wood.

If you are a keen woodworker, you will probably be in the habit of keeping all scraps of old wood as they always come in handy. You can build up your old wood collection by collecting old table leaves and other odd wooden pieces.

Tags: furniture