Stewart's Furniture & Upholstery
St. George furniture and upholstery shop on River Road providing reupholstery, furniture repair and restoration.
Stewart's Furniture & Upholstery works from River Road in St. George on reupholstery, furniture repair and restoration. Wood furniture repair is a distinct discipline from upholstery, and it deals with a problem this valley creates for anything that arrived from somewhere wetter.
Background
Wood equilibrates with the moisture in the air around it, and furniture built and assembled in a humid region carries the dimensions it settled into there. Bring the same piece to a house at fifteen percent indoor humidity and it dries further, shrinking across the grain. Joints that were tight become loose, because a mortise and tenon or a dowel relies on the interference fit between two pieces of wood, and both have moved. Panels that were fitted into grooves shrink away from them. Veneer, which is a thin skin glued to a substrate that moves at a different rate, lifts and bubbles. Solid tabletops split along the grain when a top is fastened rigidly to a base that will not let it move.
The repair reflects an old choice about materials. Traditional furniture was assembled with hide glue, which is reversible: heat and moisture soften it, so a loose joint can be taken apart, cleaned back to bare wood and re-glued properly. Modern synthetic adhesives are not reversible, so a joint repaired with one is difficult to open again if it fails, and a joint that has been flooded with a modern glue without disassembly generally cannot be repaired at all. This is why an antique or an inherited piece is worth putting in front of someone who works in the traditional way rather than treating with whatever is in the garage.
Worth reading alongside this: antique stores and moving companies. The directory lists all Upholstery & Furniture Repair.
Nearby: EcoGreen Landscaping, Paradise Landscape, American Grinders.
Categories
Address
3662 River RdSt. George, UT 84790
Contact
- Work Phone: 435-467-8624
Frequently asked questions
Why do furniture joints loosen after moving to St. George?
Wood equilibrates with the surrounding air, and a piece built in a humid region carries the dimensions it settled into there. In a house at fifteen percent indoor humidity it dries further and shrinks across the grain, so the interference fit that a dowel or mortise and tenon depends on is lost and the joint works loose.
What is hide glue and why does it matter for repair?
A traditional animal-protein adhesive that is reversible - heat and moisture soften it, so a joint can be taken apart, cleaned to bare wood and properly re-glued. Modern synthetic adhesives do not reverse, so a joint flooded with one without disassembly is often beyond repair afterwards.
Why does veneer lift and bubble in a dry climate?
Veneer is a thin layer of wood glued to a substrate, and the two respond to changing moisture at different rates. As the piece dries the differential movement stresses the glue line, and where the bond gives way the veneer lifts into a blister. It can usually be re-adhered if it is caught before the loose edge breaks away.
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