Restoring and Repairing Antique and Fine Furniture, by Barry Horton

Barry Horton is an award-winning cabinet maker and antiques restorer. He ran a restoration company in England and worked on projects for Leeds Museum and Hampton Court Palace before moving to France, where he was awarded the Prix SEMA by the Société d'Encouragement aux Métiers d'Art. His publisher says he works with locally sourced timber and hand tools only, following methods used in eighteenth-century Paris.

Restoring and Repairing Antique and Fine Furniture is his guide to the work, written for conservators and woodworkers, amateur and professional. The Crowood Press describes it as covering techniques alongside the history of the craft and an understanding of materials.

What is in it

The contents run in three parts across fifteen chapters:

• Context and preparation: identifying, sourcing and appraising antique furniture; recognising authenticity; hand tools; timber; glue.
• The process: dismantling; structural repairs; mouldings and beadings; veneer; timber decay, consolidation and repair.
• The finishing touches: surface preparation; the art of French polishing; wax and oil finishes; gilt bronze and other metalwork; recipes.

There is a glossary, a list of suppliers and an index.

• The Crowood Press, published 12 May 2026.
• Paperback, £26, 224 pages, ISBN 9780719846267. Also available as an ebook.

The book at The Crowood Press