Revitalisation aims first and foremost to make the substance of a piece of furniture or furnishings viable again, to conserve a condition and at the same time make it vital, so that the substance is secured for the next decades. For example, when wood is heavily infested with worm, the wood has long since become dusty and has already lost between 30% and 70% of its original weight. Or when wood is affected by rot and needs to be partially replaced.
It is responsible towards future generations to use wood as sparingly as possible when supplementing or replacing it. As in dentistry, every effort should be made technically and in terms of craftsmanship to preserve the original substance. For example, by hardening wood, by refilling missing wood structure with plastic – for example, in the case of wormholes inside the wood.
Particularly low-viscosity wood preservatives are absorbed deeply into the wood and offer long-lasting protection against rot and insecticides. When hardening the wood substance, plastic injections are used, i.e. liquefied plastic is introduced into the worm passages (imaginably similar to a honeycomb structure), the hardening of the plastic leads to a solidification of the original wood substance. Shellac can be applied as a further criterion – shellac is not only a surface finish but also a hardener.
Isopropanol, paraloid, ethyl acetate, Owatrol Deck, various worming agents: our chemistry box has a lot to offer. In addition, there are many other materials that we cannot mention here in order to protect our know-how.
After a successful revitalisation, the usual procedure of restoration can begin, i.e. dealing with gluing, veneer and surface, function, look and feel, fittings.
