Having completed the 16 WEEK Course this 6 week extension is a fabulous opportunity to further your furniture knowledge and abilities with the unique set of skills and techniques required to restore and conserve Antique Furniture.

Cabinetmaking is the foundation skill-set required for a Furniture Restorer. An understanding of how furniture is constructed is the vital starting point when dismantling furniture for repair, and the cabinetmaking skills, working to very fine tolerances and cutting joints by hand, will allow structural repairs, strong/ indiscernible splices, and replacement parts or joints to be made. This 6 week extension builds on the skills learnt during THE 16, by adding the unique and varied skills and techniques required to sympathetically restore and conserve Antique Furniture to a very high standard. Add Metalworker, Locksmith, Polisher, Carver, Turner and Problem Solver of immense cunning and you are beginning to understand the breadth of skills and knowledge required to be a Restorer.

The development of furniture over the centuries and the social history, fads and fashions that influenced furniture design is a fascinating subject on its own; and devising cunning plans and methods for bringing fine Antiques back to life in a way that is visually acceptable and structurally sound, is an equally all-consuming subject. Bringing a piece of furniture that was made by hand, with no modern machinery, perhaps some 2- 300 years ago, back into use is hugely rewarding, but it must be approached with skill, sensitivity and knowledge, not only when executing repairs, but also when analysing, manipulating and cleaning the original polished surfaces that have been handled and oxidised over hundreds of years.

Restoring and Conserving Antique Furniture is completely absorbing and incredibly satisfying and this 6 week course, using a mixture of test pieces, and project work, is the perfect safe, responsible introduction to this fascinating subject.