Furniture Restoration Glossary

The horizontal rail running just below the seat of a chair or below the top of a table, connecting the legs. Aprons carry the load between the legs and the structure above; loose aprons mean a wobbly piece.

A soft natural wax used as a final protective and softening layer over shellac, lacquer, or French polish. Hand-applied and buffed, beeswax adds depth and a soft touch to the finish. Wears off and requires periodic renewal.

A Texas hardwood with bright yellow-orange color, extreme density, and exceptional rot resistance. Used historically in fence posts, wagon parts, and primitive furniture. Heavy and difficult to work but virtually indestructible once shaped.

Two consecutive slices of veneer cut from the same flitch and laid out as mirror images, like an open book. Used on tabletops and door panels for symmetrical, high-impact grain figure. Replacing damaged bookmatched veneer requires sourcing from the same flitch when possible.

A repair technique using colored shellac sticks melted into a damaged area (gouge, chip, dent) and leveled with a hot knife. Used for invisible spot repair on existing finish without stripping the whole piece. A core skill in fine restoration.

A curved furniture leg that bows outward at the knee and inward at the ankle, often ending in a carved foot (ball-and-claw, pad, scroll). Defining feature of Queen Anne and Chippendale styles. Cabriole legs require single-piece stock with grain that follows the curve.

An aromatic softwood used in chests, closets, and outdoor furniture. The aromatic oils repel moths and cedar's natural rot resistance suits it to outdoor and lining applications. Texas cedar (Ashe juniper) is locally sourced and used in regional rustic furniture.

An American hardwood that starts pale pink and ages to a deep reddish-brown over years of light exposure. Used in Shaker and traditional American furniture. Cherry is prone to blotching when stained without conditioner.

A localized burn into the finish and often the wood beneath, leaving a charred dark spot. Repair involves removing the char, filling the depression with shellac stick or matched filler, and burning-in to make the repair invisible.

Mixing custom stain blends to hit a specific target color — typically the original color of the piece, the customer's reference sample, or a new desired direction. Done at the bench by eye against the actual piece, not chosen from a chip card.

The top horizontal rail of a chair back. On formal chairs the crest is often shaped, carved, or pierced. Cracks in the crest rail are common on chairs that have been dragged or leaned back hard against a wall.

Distressing is artificial wear added to make new wood look old (chains, hammer marks, spotty stain). Aging is the chemical or pigmentary process of darkening wood to mimic age. Both are used in reproductions and to make new replacement parts blend with original ones.

Interlocking trapezoidal pins and tails cut into the corners of two boards, used most commonly on drawer construction. Mechanically locked — the joint cannot pull apart in one direction even without glue. Hand-cut dovetails are a hallmark of quality cabinetwork.

A round wooden pin used to align and reinforce a glued joint. Faster to produce than mortise-and-tenon but lower in long-term durability under stress. Common in mid-20th-century mass-production furniture.

Coil springs tied together with jute twine in eight directions per spring, anchored to webbing. The traditional, top-quality spring system in fine upholstered furniture. Lasts decades longer than sinuous springs and gives the deep, supportive sit of antique seating.

Three cushion fills with very different feel and longevity. High-density polyurethane foam holds shape longest. Down (typically over a foam core) gives a luxury softness but requires plumping. Polyester fiber fill is cheap and short-lived. The right choice depends on use and budget.

Shellac applied by hand with a fabric pad in dozens of thin layers, with a small amount of oil to reduce drag. Builds extraordinary depth and gloss. The defining finish of fine 19th-century furniture. Time-intensive but unsurpassed for antique work.

The technique of applying shellac with a pad in many thin layers, building depth gradually. Distinct from the finish itself — French polishing is the verb. Takes many hours per piece and is hand-skill intensive. Used on fine antiques and high-end repair work.

A paste applied to open-grain woods (oak, walnut, mahogany) to fill the pores before finishing, producing a dead-flat final surface. Available in clear or pre-tinted colors. Required for piano-grade or French-polished open-grain pieces.

Damage to a finish from contact with a hot object — typically a white or cloudy spot caused by softened finish trapping vapor. Often repairable with light heat or appropriate solvent without full refinishing.

A piece of furniture passed down through a family, valued more for its provenance and meaning than for its market value. Heirlooms drive much of restoration work — these are the pieces customers want preserved regardless of cost.

An animal-protein adhesive used for centuries. Reversible with heat and moisture — the next restorer can undo a hide-glue joint without destroying the wood. Standard on antique restoration and any work where future repairability matters.

Decorative material (wood, mother-of-pearl, brass, ivory) set into a recess cut in the surface of a piece. Distinct from veneer in that inlay is a localized decorative element rather than a full surface covering.

A fast-drying spray finish based on cellulose resins. Used widely in mid-20th-century manufacturing and modern furniture. Durable, clear, and repairable with the right solvent. Standard finish for many refinishing projects.

Two boards joined by removing half the thickness of each at the overlap so they sit flush. Simpler than mortise-and-tenon but adequate for many lower-stress applications like web frames and back panels.

A penetrating oil from flax seed, traditionally used on furniture, gun stocks, and tool handles. Boiled linseed oil cures faster than raw. Less protective than modern finishes but renewable and historically authentic on primitive pieces.

A Texas hardwood from Quercus virginiana, dense and heavy with interlocking grain. Difficult to work but extremely strong. Used in some heritage Texas pieces and structural applications. Distinct from northern white or red oak.

A tropical hardwood with deep reddish-brown color, fine straight grain, and excellent stability. The defining wood of Federal, Empire, and many British colonial styles. Genuine Cuban mahogany is now rare; modern restoration typically uses Honduran or African substitutes.

A pale, tight-grained American hardwood, very hard and dense. Used in butcher blocks, cutting boards, traditional American furniture, and in many high-end pieces where light color is the goal. Curly and bird's-eye maple are decorative figures of the same wood.

Decorative inlay using thin pieces of veneer cut and fitted into a pattern (florals, geometric designs, scenes). A signature feature of fine French and Italian furniture. Damaged marquetry repair requires matched veneers and patience.

A Texas hardwood with deep red-brown color, dramatic grain pattern, and exceptional hardness. Used historically in Spanish Colonial furniture and ranch construction. Stable once dry, prone to checking before. Sees regular use in heritage Texas pieces.

A traditional paint made from casein (milk protein), lime, and pigment. Adheres to bare wood without primer, dries to a durable matte finish, and is used on primitive, farmhouse, and Shaker pieces where authentic period finish is the goal.

The classic woodworking joint: a square or rectangular hole (mortise) cut into one piece, fit with a matching protrusion (tenon) cut on another. Used on chair legs to seat rails, table aprons, frame-and-panel doors. Properly cut and glued, a mortise-and-tenon joint outlasts the wood around it.

Two distinct American hardwoods. Red oak has open grain and a pinkish cast; it is porous enough to blow air through end grain. White oak has tighter grain, more olive cast, and contains tyloses that make it water-resistant — used historically in barrel making and outdoor furniture.

The accumulated surface character a piece develops over decades — minor wear, oxidation, slight color shift, hand-rubbed sheen on high-touch areas. Authentic patina is irreplaceable and protected during conservation; it is what distinguishes a true antique from a refinished one.

A Texas hardwood related to hickory, with strong grain pattern and warm brown color that deepens with age. Used in regional furniture making and fine cabinetwork. Pecan takes finish beautifully and ages with character.

A mortise-and-tenon joint reinforced with a small wood peg driven through the mortise wall and the tenon. Used on heritage and primitive furniture where mechanical locking matters more than glue strength. Common in Spanish Colonial and Texas mesquite pieces.

A softwood used widely in primitive furniture, country pieces, and architectural millwork. Knotty pine carries the visible knots that give it character; clear pine is graded knot-free for finer applications. Pine is soft, dents easily, and requires conditioner before staining.

The standard way of cutting lumber, with growth rings roughly tangent to the face. Produces the cathedral-arch grain pattern most people associate with wood, but is less stable and more prone to cupping than quarter-sawn stock.

A modern synthetic finish, extremely durable but visually plastic and effectively impossible to repair. Appropriate on high-traffic modern pieces. Inappropriate on antiques — the look is wrong and the irreversibility violates conservation principles.

The documented history of a piece — who made it, who owned it, and the chain of custody. Strong provenance dramatically increases the value of an antique and changes restoration approach toward conservation rather than refinishing.

Lumber cut so the growth rings run roughly perpendicular to the face of the board. Produces straight, stable grain and on white oak shows the distinctive ray-fleck figure used in Mission and Arts & Crafts furniture.

Disassembling a loose joint, cleaning out old glue, and re-gluing properly. Common on chairs where the dried glue has lost its bond. The trap is re-gluing a joint without disassembly — the new glue cannot bond through old glue residue and the joint fails again quickly.

Replacing the worn or broken tip of a furniture leg or foot with a matched piece of new wood, glued and shaped to be invisible. Common on chairs and tables that have spent decades on hard floors.

The complete strip and rebuild of an upholstered piece — fabric, foam, springs, webbing, and frame inspection. Distinct from upholstery repair (spot fixes). Reupholstery is a multi-week process and the right choice when a piece's frame is sound but the soft components are worn out.

Abrasive paper graded by particle size: 60-80 grit for heavy stock removal, 100-120 for shaping, 150-180 for general smoothing, 220 for finish prep on most woods, 320 for fine prep before water-based finish or French polish. Higher grit numbers are finer.

A first finish coat designed to seal the wood and serve as a base for topcoats. Sanding sealer contains zinc stearate or similar, which makes it sand to a fine powder for easy smoothing before the next coat.

A natural finish made from the resin of the lac bug, dissolved in alcohol. The original clear furniture finish — used widely from the 1700s through the 1930s. Repairable, beautiful, but not water-resistant. Standard on antique restoration.

The exposed wooden parts of an upholstered piece — chair legs, armrests, framing visible at the top of a wing chair. Show wood is restored alongside the upholstery and is often where the piece's style and quality are most visible.

A turned vertical rod, used in chair backs (Windsor chairs, primitive ladder-backs), staircases, and bed frames. Broken spindles are typically replaced by turning a matching part on a lathe.

The flat, often shaped or carved central vertical member of a chair back, running from the seat rail up to the crest rail. The splat is where most decorative carving on a traditional chair lives.

Color suspended in a carrier that penetrates wood fibers. Oil-based stains penetrate deeply and give a richer color but take longer to dry. Water-based stains dry fast, raise the grain (requiring an extra sanding pass), and are more environmentally friendly.

A horizontal structural member running between the legs of a chair or table, low to the floor, that resists racking and stiffens the assembly. Removing or breaking a stretcher is a common cause of chair joint failure.

Removing the existing finish — chemical (using methylene chloride, NMP, or modern alternatives), heat (heat gun for paint), or mechanical (sanding, scraping). The choice depends on the finish type and the wood underneath. Wrong stripper can destroy joinery.

Color loss and finish degradation from prolonged direct or indirect UV exposure. Walnut, cherry, and mahogany all shift color significantly. Repair typically involves stripping and refinishing with attention to matching the un-faded areas (often the underside or back).

A milled joint where one board has a protruding tongue along its edge that fits into a matching groove on the next board. Used to join wide panels (tabletops, flooring) so they look continuous while allowing seasonal wood movement.

Buttons or knots pulled deeply into upholstered surfaces, holding the fabric in place and creating a textured pattern of valleys and peaks. Common on Chesterfield sofas, headboards, and Victorian upholstered chairs.

A penetrating oil finish derived from the tung tree nut. Brings out grain depth without building a film on the surface. Used on mid-century pieces, hand tools, and any application where the natural feel of wood matters. Renewable indefinitely.

A thin sheet of wood (typically 1/40 inch in modern use, thicker on antiques) applied to a stable substrate. Used to display rare or figured woods that would be impractical as solid stock. Veneer repair is a major restoration specialty.

A localized lift in the middle of a veneer surface, looking like a small bubble. Repaired by slitting the bubble along the grain, working glue underneath, and clamping flat. Done well, the repair is invisible.

A break or missing piece in a veneer surface, typically along an edge or corner. Repaired by sourcing matching veneer (figure, color, era) and patching with a tight invisible joint. A core antique-restoration skill.

Veneer that has separated from its substrate, typically because the original glue (often hide glue) has dried out or been exposed to moisture. Repaired by reactivating or replacing the glue and clamping the veneer back down.

A North American hardwood with rich chocolate-brown color, strong grain pattern, and excellent workability. Used heavily in mid-century furniture, gun stocks, and fine cabinetwork. Walnut darkens with age and develops a deep patina.

IICRC categorization. Cat 1 is clean water (supply lines, rain). Cat 2 is gray water with some contamination (washing machines, dishwashers). Cat 3 is black water — sewage, flood, or any water that has sat 48+ hours. Restoration approach differs sharply by category.

Strong woven strips (traditionally jute, sometimes elastic) stretched and tacked across the bottom of a frame to support springs or cushioning above. Webbing failure is a common cause of sagging seats and is replaced as part of any reupholstery.

A fabric-covered cord sewn into the seam of an upholstered piece for both decoration and structural reinforcement. Welt at the cushion edges and along the frame perimeter is standard on traditional upholstery.

Both caused by moisture under a glass or vase. White rings sit in the finish layer and often come out without refinishing (heat, oil, or solvent). Black rings have penetrated the wood, requiring sanding through the finish and bleaching the wood.

Chemical lightening of wood color, typically with two-part oxalic-acid or peroxide bleaches. Used to remove dark water stains, even out color before staining, or prepare wood for a much lighter final color. Aggressive process — requires careful technique.

A penetrating sealer applied before stain on woods that blotch (pine, cherry, maple, birch). The conditioner partially seals end grain and figure so stain absorbs more evenly. Skipping conditioner on these woods produces dark splotches that cannot be undone.