Repairing a much-used item of furniture

While the Bridge Chamber has been undergoing its internal refurbishment, some of the items within it have also enjoyed a spot of tender loving care.

This coat rack has seen a lot of use over the years and is one of the items sent away for refurbishment.

Minor repairs were carried out and the wood was given a clean, and while it was away it received an additional unexpected repair.

At some point in the past, one of its hooks had snapped off and been lost. This had been accepted as a sad piece of damage on a well-used piece of furniture: looking at how decorative the hooks are, we couldn’t exactly pick up a replacement from the local hardware store.

However while the stand was in the hands of Kevin Earles, Restorer of Fine Furniture based in Whitstable, he showed the hook to a contact and our coat stand has been made whole again.

Shaun Chaplin of Thanet took away one of the intact hooks, created a mould and then used that to cast a new bronze hook as a replacement. This included creating handmade screws to match the originals when attaching the hook.

The new hook was then mixed in with the originals and reattached at random – and it’s so good we can’t tell you which is which!

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