Sometimes, people will want to refinish an antique piece of furniture. If done poorly, this can devalue that furniture, so just a simple clean up and a fresh coat of stain or oil may be best.
For most restorations, furniture is completely taken apart to sand and apply a stain and clear coat before it is reassembled using a polyurethane glue. Some furniture new or old may have a dent, scratch or a broken part that brings back a memory. In this case, some customers want it left to preserve the memory, and I would definitely recommend doing that.
This old maple rocking chair, that was made with solid construction and care, is a perfect example of keeping old memories when refinishing a piece of furniture. When removing the old finish and sanding out dents and scratches there comes the occasional time when an area is found that should be left as is, or at least slightly cleaned up.
In the case of this rocking chair that has been in our family for a long time, there are some markings in it that were memorable to me. On the right arm rest you can see a dent with a BB lodged inside. The original BB was removed about 25 years ago to avoid trouble for my step-brother and me.
I have this chair now and every time I sit in it those memories come back, so it was only fitting when refinishing this it to epoxy a new BB inside the dent.
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