Handy Tips to Maintain Furniture

If a chair's legs sprawl out when you sit in it, the chair probably has loose stretchers - the pieces of wood that connect all the legs and brace the chair. Remove the stretcher. If it's really loose, you can spread apart the legs and pull out the stretcher. If one side is still stuck, place a padded block of wood against the leg and strike it lightly with a hammer. Clean the glued ends (and the holes in the legs) with coarse sandpaper and apply new wood glue. Reinsert the ends of the stretcher into the legs and apply a tourniquet. Loop a length of nylon rope around the legs and tie a knot. Insert a stick in the knot and twist, drawing the legs together. To prevent untwisting, allow the end of the stick to wedge itself under the bottom of the chair. Leave in place until the glue dries. Drive a small finishing nail into the leg and through the end of the stretcher. Drive in the nail from the back of the leg, where it is less visible. Sink the head with a nail set and fill the small hole with matching wood putty.

In a lot of older pieces, the drawers don't fit well anymore. When you shove them in, they don't stop where they should, they tip down in the back, and they don't slide easily. These problems are easily fixed. Examine the drawer guides for wear. These are the strips of wood on each side of the chest that the sides of the drawers rest on. If they're badly worn, it's a simple procedure to turn them over. If you can get the claw of your hammer in there and force it between the strip of wood and the side of the chest, you'll be able to pop off the guide. Knock the nails flush with the guides, and turn the guides over so what was the bottom is now the top. Run a bead of glue along the guides and nail them back in place. Rub a candle, some paraffin, or a bar of soap on the drawer where it makes contact.

Check the stops - little wooden blocks that stop the drawer from going in too far or keep the drawer from being pulled all the way out. Replace any missing ones. Measure one and make new ones approximately the same size. Normally you can see where the old stops were, or you can estimate appropriate placement from those still there. A drop of glue and a short nail are all you need to secure them. Drive a nail all the way through each block before nailing them in place inside the chest. When small areas of veneer have raised, forming little humps, they can usually be re-glued. Using a single-edge razor blade and following the grain, make a cut through the veneer, spanning the entire length of the blister.

With the tip of a knife or other flat instrument, force some glue into each side of the cut. Press down the veneer with the heel of your hand, squeezing out the excess. Remove it with a damp rag, place a piece of waxed paper over the repair, and weight or clamp it. Let it dry overnight.

Replacing small areas of missing veneer is also quite simple. You can use a bit of veneer you've salvaged from some other piece of furniture, a piece from a less noticeable area of the same furniture, or a piece from a sample or starter kit, available from a woodworker's supplier.

Lay the veneer "patch" on top of the area to be repaired, matching the grain pattern as closely as possible. Cut through the new and old veneer, slightly beyond the edges of the missing material. This will ensure that your patch is exactly the same size as the area to be patched. Remove the old veneer. Replace the missing material. Spread a small amount of glue on the underside of the veneer patch, position the piece and press it down, squeezing out the excess glue. Remove the excess with a damp rag, place a piece of waxed paper over the repair, and weight or clamp it. Let it dry overnight.

Gouges, missing wood, nail and screw holes from previous botched repair jobs can be fixed and the patch neatly hidden. Fill the hole. Use a wood filler that can be stained to improve your chances of getting a good colour match. Since you're not going to get a perfect colour match, you need to do something to minimize the contrast. If the wood's grain continues right through the patched area, your eyes won't be drawn immediately to that spot. Draw lines to match the wood grain with a soft lead or coloured pencil.

Claw hammer, package of single-edge razor blades, flexible rule (tape measure) inexpensive 1/4-inch electric drill with four drill bits: 1/8-inch, 3/16-inch, 1/4-inch, and 1/2-inch (with 1/4-inch shaft) Medium-sized standard screwdrivers, sandpaper, wood glue, nylon rope, wood-colour "putty" sticks, nail set, tack puller are tools required to take care of the maintenance.

From: Chinese Antique Furniture (MFG) Ltd.
More information, please visit the site
http://www.lubanfang.com
Edit by Jason

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Give you some tips to maintain furniture.

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