The Antique Restorer Zambia

14/07/2026

Besides restoring antique furniture I also fix clocks

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Servicing and Repairs of antique clocks.

14/07/2026

Some of you may not know I am also the piano man

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Professional Piano tuning and maintenance services - repairs and rebuilds, by BTEC qualified technician for hotels, schools, concerts and domestic.

12/07/2026

This set of 4 late 19th century dining chairs inherited from my grandparents and most likely their parents before that finally got recovered. The drop in seats were in a sorry state but I remember this old fabric from my grandparents house as a child. Having stripped them down, mended the frames, re-webbed and padded them I first covered with calico before the top cover so that one day I'll likely try to find a more period fabric to cover them with again and will only have to remove the top fabric. For now this is quite serviceable.

08/07/2026

Here's an update on the little Regency tea caddy I posted earlier. There was a lot of conservation work involved on this piece, first stabilising any loose tortoiseshell, 10 minutes here and 10 minutes there with drying times in between. Then crafting a new dividing piece and internal supports to hold the lids, adding new turned k***s and repairing the casework where the hinges fit. Finally a time consuming process of matching as best as possible the natural tortoiseshell pattens and colours with hard wax wherever it was missing.
As mentioned before such pieces are highly collectible but unfortunately the amount of damage sustained over its lifetime has resulted in a significant loss in value. The overall appearance now tho is of a much loved heirloom piece.

07/07/2026

An update on the earlier post about the upholstery being the only thing holding a chair together. This mid 19th century chair is now all reassembled, strong as ever, and reupholstered. Here are a few pics along to way together with the finished item.

30/06/2026

A little "oriental influence" chair now done. Delicacy was the operative word for this set of small repairs - a broken foot, loose joints, some lost boxwood stringing to be disguised and recovering with fabric to match the other pieces. Before and after (quite an improvement).

25/06/2026

This 1930s cutlery table was in a sorry state when it came into the workshop. The veneer on the top was mostly off and the fitted innards, covered in royal blue baize, were somewhat ragged.
I decided to re-line simply with green baize and to rebate a sheet of ply into the top and let in a piece of cowhide. Its taken a nice polish (home made beeswax). I toyed with the idea of using the section of the hide that had the brand marks and make a central feature of it but then decided against. Perhaps if it had been my own.......?

24/06/2026

Just reupholstered this little footstool. Looks much better now.

22/06/2026

When the only thing holding a chair together is the upholstery........
Will post an update when it is redone!

19/06/2026

Just done some partial repairs to this Kiaat/Mukwa (bloodwood) chest. Somehow the bottom end piece had got lost and a previous carpenter had made a crude replacement for that and a new leg.
Working with what was there I reshaped the bottom rail and and the new leg and then swapped the new leg to the back where it would be less noticeable. Getting a good colour match from a completely different timber (jacaranda) was quite a challenge.