George II Walnut Bachelor's Chest restored to former glory

When a client bought this lovely George II Walnut Bachelor's Chest in to the workshop of Somerset based Pye Antiques Restoration, it was in desperate need of restoration to its original glory.

The chest suffered from many problems. The top substructure was comprehensively split with bubbles and missing veneer. It was also off-kilter when open.

The picture below shows some of the damage to the top inside so one of the first tasks was to carefully lift the veneer on the top, inside and outside.

The two photos below, show the hinged half of the top after the original veneer had been carefully lifted. The split top was reassembled and any previous shrinking compensated for. Then the early stages of the re-laying of the original book matched top veneer. The same happened to the burr that was inside.

The images below show both sides of the hinges top after the re-laying of all the veneer to the same configuration as the original. The lighter colours are the patches.

The images below show the early stages of bleaching both the new patches and bringing back the original colour.

This image below shows some of the patches they had to put on the carcass of the chest.

The work on the piece also included:

• closing splits in the carcass
• filleting it as necessary
• re-laying the other veneers
• gluing down bubbles throughout
• patching cross-grain mouldings and veneer throughout
• closing splits in drawer bottoms
• replacing drawer runners and stops as necessary
• securing drawer dividers and
• straightening the off kilter Loppers ensure the top was level when open.

The photos below show the finished item after sympathetically cleaning the rest, rento-killing, colouring and polishing back to it original condition. The aim has been achieved so that the piece looks like it had never needed this level of restoration!

For more from this company visit www.pyeantiquesrestoration.co.uk