The Belligerent Finisher, John Porritt

How to achieve the gently worn, warm and human surfaces found on antiques has rarely been fully explained. In "The Belligerent Finisher", furniture restorer and chairmaker John Porritt shows every step in transforming a new chair into one that looks 200 years old. The goal is not fakes but a finish that looks right on pieces built to antique patterns.

Porritt, who works from a small red barn in upstate New York, has decades of experience and an outstanding eye for colour and patina. His techniques are simple and use mostly everyday objects and materials, such as a pot scrubber, a deer antler, vinegar and tea; how you apply them, with a wee bit of belligerence, is what matters. The book is lavishly illustrated with colour photos.

98 pages, laminated softcover, sewn and glued spine. Printed and bound in the United States. In English.