Rosewood inlaid piano
Rosewood inlaid piano with damaged veneer needed to be repaired and repolished.
Rosewood inlaid piano with damaged veneer needed to be repaired and repolished.
This Georgian, mahogany, tambour front commode was brought to the workshop in pieces. Every part of the piece was broken and the canvas supporting the tambour door was also damaged. Mike has carefully restored the commode by repairing the wood, reconstructing the piece and French polishing it.
Mike has adapted this Edwardian walnut roll-top desk for modern day use. The owner wanted the desk adapted so that it would accommodate a large computer monitor and computer unit, CPU. The drawers on the right of the desk have been made into a door front to accommodate the CPU;...
Mike Smith-Wood, long established antique furniture restorer based in Cheltenham’s Suffolk Road, was photographed by Remy Whiting and included in his book Portrait of Cheltenham. Celebrating Cheltenham’s diversity, Portrait of Cheltenham offers a unique and engaging view of the town and its inhabitants. Portrait of Cheltenham is available from Waterstones, www.bankhousebooks.com and...
Mike was commissioned to make a demonstration piece to show the complexities of carpentry developed by the Chinese during the Ming Dynasty. The piece was used as part of a lecture delivered by an authority on Chinese furniture to Oxbridge Alumni in London March 2013. The photographs below show the joint...
This set of drawers was brought to Mike for restoration. The top was damaged due to atmospheric changes over the years and the veneer had lifted. Parts of the veneer and cross-banding on the front of the piece were also missing. Mike stripped the piece, repaired the missing veneers and...
Mike Smith-Wood has been an antique furniture restorer since 1975 and in the 1980s lived in Japan working as a restorer. This short film is an excerpt from a half-hour documentary about Mike made shortly before his return to the UK. Mike was filmed in his Tokyo workshop talking about...
This clock case has been re-veneered with walnut. Mike was commissioned to colour and polish the case to make it in keeping with the period of the c.1700 clock movement, made by George Graham.
This Arts & Crafts style oak chair needed to be strengthened – the seat had collapsed in the past and been unsatisfactorily repaired, damaging the frame. The restoration involved stripping the upholstery, taking the chair apart, cleaning and repairing joints and putting the chair back together. The frame was stripped...
This early oak coffer did not have a top and the structure was very loose. It was brought in to be rebuilt and for me to make a new hinged top. It was necessary to take it all apart whilst keeping as many of the original pegs as possible. The...