This Regency chest of drawers came up beautifully in the end. The flame mahogany bow front was a joy to see finished but when it arrived in the workshop it was very battered about.

There were scratches and knocks all over it as well as significant damage to the veneer (in more than ten separate places this was completely missing) There was some serious water and heat damage on the top (someone had used this chest as an ironing board – the shape of an iron can clearly be seen in the bottom photo!)
The Mahogany and finish were not as they should have been; the skilful way the original cabinet maker had matched the grain across and down the individual drawers couldn’t be appreciated at all, which seemed such a pity.

​In the workshop new pieces of veneer were cut in, the water and heat marks were fixed, and then the whole piece needed cleaning off and re-polishing by hand using specialist processes. At all stages of restoration each individual repair had to be carefully matched and blended in, to respect the original flame mahogany design. The two images below are close-ups of damage. ​