Custom furniture design, repair, restoration, preservation and advice for woodworking beginners and enthusiasts
Adding sculptural elements to our woodworking projects may make them more interesting or help us reference a particular style. In Restoration, our choice is removed; when a piece comes into the shop missing parts, we need to recreate and finish them to match what's missing.
Restoration and repair are simply environmentally responsible, or to paraphrase an architectural trend "The greenest furniture is that furniture already built."
In woodworking generally, but in restoration particularly you will be dealing with holes; making new ones, cleaning old ones and repairing them. These holes will come in an inconvenient array of diameters, so you will become familiar with drill bits, drills and driving.
When you pick up a chisel or gouge for use, they will likely be in your hands for more than a few moments, so comfort and control in the form of the handle shape and blade length should be carefully considered for the task-at-hand.
Hammers, mallets and the axe are referred to as tools of percussion allowing you to focus intense energy in very specific ways.
This table was brought to my shop for repair. The condition was just what you might expect from a table of this type and age; loose leg joints and hinge joint damage on the folding top. It had a number of secondary issues as well, loosened and cracked veneer, a damaged finish with numerous dents and missing sections of cross-grain banding. It was barely standing upright.
Essentially a woodworking plane is a wide, flat chisel suspended in a wooden or now almost exclusively, metal jig. I have provided examples of planes that have worked well in my shop and some that don't see very much use but are interesting.
A good quality crosscut, tenon and dovetail saw are useful initial tools. Saws can be designed and sharpened to cut efficiently along or across a board with a varying number of teeth.
Sticks & Glue 
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