Winter Time Refinishing

This is the time of year to get great deals on your furniture repair and refinish needs. Dave has a controlled climate workshop to keep working all year round. Call during the cold season, for the best prices available. At Dave's Touch-Ups, Inc. you will not be disappointed in the end results and you will only pay a fair price. Call for an appointment Today. 815/795-3417.

Thanks to all my customers and friends!

Just want to thank everyone who has recommended me to their friends and clients.

Summer is almost to an end, and you all have made it possible for me to keep my business alive with your referrals, in today's tough economy.

Special Thanks to Hometown Furniture, Maggie's Place, Brakur Cabinets, American Heritage Cabinetry, & Flutterby Popcorn, for telling their customers about me. I am grateful that you all have confidence in my abilities to make my customers happy. And also I would like to say thank you, to all of you, who have told your friends and family about my refinishing business. Thanks so much and happy end of summer to you all...............

Dave's Touch-Ups, Inc. Marseilles, IL. 61341 Office # 815/795-3417

Dave's Web-page

Price increases hurt everyone.

Today I would like to explain how I try to save you money and how I am coping with today's terrible economy.

I try to condense all my pickups, deliveries, and estimates, all on the same day. I try to only go out once or twice a week, to conserve on fuel. I have a diesel van & pull a 16 foot trailer which gets 9 to 16 gallons per mile. At today's cost of nearly $5.00 per gallon, you can imagine what it is costing me for fuel alone. I would love to have a more fuel efficient vehicle, but I need the large van to hold my touch-up supplies & to haul furniture. I need the heavy duty van to pull a very heavy trailer also.

Not only that, but all of my finishing supplies and shipping cost have also increased and have almost doubled in the last three years. I, like everyone else, have to increase my restoration service cost. I will give you an estimate, based on the distance from my shop for pick-up and delivery cost. I mostly travel within a 40 mile radius of my shop in Marseilles, IL., but will travel further for a cost. My shipping cost are any where from $20.00 to $60.00 for each direction. Now you may find a few refinishers out there, saying they have free pickup & delivery service, but they just add it to the cost of the refinishing job. It cost them money to travel and they pay their fuel cost with your money, weather they say so or not. I like to let my customers see exactly what they are getting for their hard earned dollars. No gimmicks at Dave's Touch-Ups, Inc. I also try to buy my supplies in bulk to save money in the long run. I try to get all my jobs ready, so I can work on several pieces at once, so when stripping with exhaust fans on & spraying with exhaust fans on, I can go to town on the furniture & shut down the fans as soon as possible. In the winter this saves on heating cost & in the summer, it saves on air conditioning. I not only do these things to save me money, but to cut the cost increases I must make to my customers. In these tough times, we all have to do whatever we can. So if you want to recycle your heirloom antiques while saving as much as possible, then call me for you free estimate. I do not charge to come to your home, but if you like my prices & I take it to my shop to work on, then I will charge the minimum for my services. So if you would like to $ SAVE WITH DAVE $ , then call me today at 815/795-3417 or visit my web-page at https://davestouchups.com/

Restoration on an antique tea cart.

To see an old heirloom piece of furniture I refinished for a customer, click on the links below.

This tea cart belonged to Mary Todd Lincoln and in the 1800s. This cart was made and used by the Lincoln family. It was been passed down to friends and family and was in storage for several years with stuff piled on top of it. It was in a flooded basement and had a lot of water damage on the wheels. The spokes on the large wooden wheels were broken, and were in sad shape. I was able to salvage all the original parts, restore it, and put it back together. I also had a new piece of glass cut for the serving tray.

To view Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln's Tea Cart, Click here.

By Dave's Touch-Ups, Inc.

Furniture touch-ups, repairs, & refinishing.

A lot customers call Dave's Touch-Ups, asking me how much it will cost to repair their furniture, not knowing the type of repairs I do. For example, I have several people ask me to fix their leather, their upholstery , or some mechanisms underneath the furniture, such as the springs in couches and chairs. Unfortunately, I work only on woodwork. I do repairs of gouges, nicks, scratches, dings, dents, smoke damage, fire damage, flood damage, watermarks, water rings, cigarette burns,, blemishes, abrasions, and the like on wooden furniture. I do not do upholstery or leather repairs. And I do not repair springs and mechanical parts on couches and recliners. I like to stick to what I know and that is touching up wooden furniture. I also do complete restorations on both antique and modern furniture. I can do a simple cleaning or refurbishing, to touch ups, or stripping and refinishing, but only on wood. I have plenty of referrals for my customers, to handle the repairs that I do not do. Call me at 815-795-3417.

Other repairs I do, include pressed caning chairs, cleaning old glue out of loose joints on furniture, then re-gluing for a better bond. I do some veneer work, but mostly replacing or re veneering flat or slightly rounded surfaces. I can do minor inlaying, work, but nothing to fancy. My main specialty is touch-ups and refinishing.

Please visit my home page at https://davestouchups.com/ for more information...Dave

Hand Stripping verses Dipping Tanks

Will dipping my furniture ruin it?

People often ask if I use dip tanks, because they are worried that I might ruin their furniture. This is a very good question. Usually it is customers that have vintage antiques. I do not have any dipping tanks and I do not use any power washing. I strip everything by hand only. My opinion is that these methods can ruin the patina, and therefore the value of old antiques. Dip tanks can loosen glue joints and make veneers come loose. Some refinishers use power washers after soaking in dip tanks to wash off all the residue, but this can raise the wood grain, and tear up soft woods, which will have to be sanded smooth prior to staining and finishing. Now I am the first person to tell you that certain pieces will be less expensive to dip, than to strip by hand, which is the way I do it. This would include painted trim, painted doors that have no glue joints, and any piece without veneers. The way I do it, has more work involved, takes a little longer and cost a little more, but will preserve the integrity of the furniture at hand. Just keep in mind that even though dipping, is a less expensive way to strip your furniture, you will most likely have to pay more to have it sanded, re glued, and prepared to accept stains and a finishes. Sometimes, joints will have to be glued, and the wood will have to be sanded. All these procedures will take the aging patina effects out of your old antiques. I often tell my customers, that if someone tells them they are going to sand their vintage antique, to find another re-finisher to do the job. I do not sand a piece unless there is absolutely no other option. Sometimes we refinishers do not have a choice and then sanding is ok. But I like to save that option as a last resort. If you don't care about the pieces value, then I would say go for it and save a few bucks. I have had customers bring me furniture that has been dipped and power washed. Wow, what a job to bring it back to life. I was not surprised how much work I had to do to bring them back to original look. Sometimes pieces only need a cleaning, touchups, or refurbishing, and not a complete refinishing job. So talk to your favorite refinisher. If you do not feel comfortable with what he tells you, ask to talk to a few of their references. Again the above statements are just my opinion, and I am sure that other refinishers out there will see it differently than me, especially if they dip their client’s pieces. Like I said earlier, there are some legitimate reasons for dipping and it is not always a bad thing. Use your own judgment and proceed with caution………Dave’s Touch-Ups, Inc. 815-795-3417

Go Green Restorations by Dave

You can help save a few trees from being cut down, by recycling your wooden furniture. Preserve the wood you have, instead of buying new. The older pieces hold up better than half the furniture that is made today anyway. At Dave's we can restore, refurbish, touch-up, or completely refinish, your bedroom set, your dining set, your piano, your desk, or any thing you have made of wood. Cribs, highchairs, bar stools, china cabinets, hutches, armories are just a few of the pieces we can restore for you to help you to go green. https://davestouchups.com/

To Refinish or not to Refinish?

Will stripping and refinishing my old furniture ruin the value of the piece? That is another question I get asked often. My answer to that, is if your antique is in good shape and you refinish it, you will decrease the value. If it is in bad shape, and you refinish it, then you can only increase the value. No one wants an old piece sitting in their house, that looks ugly. A lot of people have some old pieces laying around, or in a corner as a decoration. But if it is falling apart and the finish is coming off, then you should have an expert like me to look at it for you. I will be the first person to tell you not to do anything with it, if it looks nice. The fewer changes you make, the better. Maybe it just needs a cleaning or just refurbish it. Try to keep all original parts, and existing finish if possible. If you change hardware on it, then save the old ones and keep them with the piece for value reasons. I know that a lot of people are afraid to do anything with their heirloom furniture, because all you ever hear is you will ruin the value if you mess with it.

Just ask yourself these questions. 1.) Do I really like the way this piece looks in my home, or is it not so pleasing to the eyes? OR 2.) Is this piece going to be for my own pleasure in my home, or am I interested in selling to a collector? If you are concerned with the value, then use my simple rule above. If it is in bad shape, then restore it. If in fair to good shape, then leave it alone. Or just have Dave look at it for a professional evaluation. https://davestouchups.com/ . Sometimes a piece only needs what I call refurbishing. That is a careful cleaning, minor repairs, and touch up, and maybe a light coat of finish applied to the surface. Most people that have old furniture, and are concerned about having it worked on, should keep in mind that an old piece cannot go through time, with out getting a few battle wounds as we call them. Most of these imperfections will blend right into a piece just by restoring the piece. You do not need every crack filled in, or every nick filled in. Just a simple refinishing can make a beat up piece look wonderful. No need to worry about every nick or gouge. Now sure you may think I am biased just because this is what I do. But I sure would not want an ugly old beat up antique in my home for everyone to see. I would want it to look as good as possible for all to enjoy. If you are worried about it's value, then I would call a collector, sell it, and let him or her worry about fixing it up. Because if you are worried about it's value, then that means it is a money thing instead of useful piece of furniture or a nice decoration. I just love hearing on the Antiques Road Show, how they find a drawer with a new bottom on it, and say it lost it's value because it has been replaced. But maybe the drawer bottom was busted so bad and the owner of the piece had no choice, but to fix it so it is functional. Now if it was left broken, then they still would say, "oh this drawer is broken & therefore the value is not as much as it could be." You cannot win. Use your own judgment, and use my rules above to make your decision.

Dave's Touch-Ups, Inc.

My number one question asked of me

More than half of my customers, ask me what type of wood is this?

When it comes to furniture, I don't claim to be an expert on identifying all of the over different species of wood that exist. But, if it is oak, birch, maple, mahogany, ash, cedar, walnut, elm, or pine, I'll be able identify these wood easily. There are so many ways to put a finish onto wood, that it is very easy to trick the best woodworkers out there. Stains and glazes can make one type of wood look like another type. Then there is the faux finishes, that are even more tricky to identify. The only way to really know is to take a small piece and put it under a microscope. There are also a lot of woods out there that are not real, but those are a little easier to identify. You have vinyl photo finishes from factories, that are usually used on inexpensive furniture and cabinets. And then you have plastic molded to look like wood grain and stained to look like real wood. Some are so good, that one cannot tell with out tapping it to hear the definite sound of wood. Some pieces of furniture have moldings attached that are also plastic and will dissolve or get ruined by refinishing the piece, if you are not careful. When stripping these parts, you have to work lightly and quickly. Or just call me to do it for you. Furniture refinishing is what I do best. Visit https://davestouchups.com/ to have Dave give you the best price possible.
https://davestouchups.com/