Below are a list of questions regularly asked of the team at BAFRA. Please click on the relevant question to view the answer.

• How do I find a qualified restorer to repair my antique?
  We provide a BAFRA Members Directory on our website listing all BAFRA members. This information is also provided in our BAFRA Directory which is published each October and is available for sale. Our website Find a Restorer section allows you to search on specialist skills and location to narrow down your search. You can also email our head office with any specific enquiries not covered by the members directory section and we will be pleased to help.
  
  
• I have seen your entry in yellow pages, what is so special about BAFRA Members?
  To become a Full Accredited Member of BAFRA at least five years' experience in professional furniture conservation and restoration is necessary (BAFRA Graduate Members who are members of our Student Section may apply after four years). Written references from knowledgeable referees are needed to make the application and comprehensive professional insurance cover must be in place. The applicant is then visited by a trained assessor who will be a BAFRA Full Member and a very comprehensive examination of every aspect of conservation-restoration knowledge and abilities follows. Examples of work in hand and finished work-pieces must be available on which the applicant is questioned in great detail. There must be a stock of old materials and timber available for inspection and every aspect of health & safety and security is checked. Finally the applicant is required to present for examination details of their work books, copies of project conservation-restoration reports and they are tested on their knowledge of furniture history and design. The assessor's report on the visit is then presented to the BAFRA Executive Committee who will decide on whether to admit the applicant to Full Membership. We also have Corporate membership which is an extension of the above Full Membership but requires re-assessment every 3 years.
  
  
• Do you find it easy to get members?
  No – partly because we are looking for quite a rare individual with very highly developed skills and partly because the depth of examination which applicants must undergo is seen, in this day and age, as rather 'over the top' and there is a feeling that a college graduate award should be good enough – it is not because we require members with experience which only comes with time spent at appropriate work.
  
  
• Would you consider making your membership assessment less 'draconian?
  No, that is not in the interests of either our clients or the heritage (the furniture and objects we handle)
  
  
• I am not at all sure that I just want my furniture conserved, because I may not be able to use it. Will the BAFRA member I choose be able to make this chair useable?
  When you show the chair to our member they will examine it carefully, ask you what end result you would like and then advise you accordingly with a mixture of both conservation and restoration work proposed. Members will want to establish your exact requirements and whenever necessary try to help you decide the best route. By and large most owners want to be able to use their furniture, sit on the chairs while enjoying their quality and history. The BAFRA Member will try hard to help you reach the decision which is best for both you and the object.
  
  
• What is all this stuff about 'Conservation', is it not the same as 'restoration'.
  For the most part when your furniture is in the hands of a BAFRA Member the requirements and skills needed to achieve both conservation and restoration go hand in hand.
  
  Conservation is primarily about stopping deterioration, making provision for protection against the danger of new bouts of deterioration and secondly maintaining the object's integrity – ie, not changing either its original designed appearance or its use.
  
  Restoration has a more practical aim of completing the object to its originally intended form but with the minimum of intrusion. This means that restoration work will be directed principally at making the object useable and visually attractive with the absolute minimum of addition of new materials and sticking to original design and construction whilst maintaining as many aspects of proof of age and use as possible. These principles almost always meet with owners' wishes and approval.
  
  If the object is primarily or display, such as in a museum, the weighting given to conservation will be greater and probably predominant. But conservation is a principle which we believe must be adhered to in every plan for furniture's sympathetic treatment.
  
  
• I was asked by one of your members to pay for their estimate. Is this usual and if so why?
  Yes, it is quite usual to charge for estimates and important to remember that apart from spending time travelling to you and or examining your furniture, the BAFRA Member is applying their expertise from the very start and laying his name and knowledge open to thorough examination. Whether or not you decide to give them the work of conservation-restoration must obviously be entirely your choice, but in making that decision you will have used our Member's expertise and experience to get there and their examination and advice is a palpable part of the whole project. Sometimes Members will 'forget' the examination/estimate fee if the work is awarded to them but it is advisable to check this aspect.
  
  
• We have had an oak table and six chairs restored by a local person and am very dissatisfied with the way they have been done. We paid for them but did not realise the state of them until we got home. The restorer agreed to put right the faults we pointed out but we are still very unhappy with them. He won't give us back our money. Our Trading Standards Officer says that we should get one of your members to look at the job and write us a report before we perhaps take the matter to Court. Is this possible and can you give us the name of a local BAFRA member and tell us what his fee is likely to be? Also do you think we are likely to get our money back?
  Yes this is possible and you can search for your local BAFRA member using our online Find a Restorer section. You will need to ask them yourself what they will charge for a report as an expert witness and if the case goes to Court what charges they would make if asked to appear. You will need to balance up the costs of lodging your case with the Court (£120) and the charges of the BAFRA member against the amount you are claiming. If you need to employ a solicitor, you are not very likely to get their fees back.
  
  (The moral of this story is 'Be very certain that you are satisfied with the work before you pay and realise that thereafter claims can be very difficult).
  
  
• I have put a hot plate on my mahogany dining table and it has left a bad mark. Is there anything I can do about this?
  If the mark is white, the heat damage is almost certainly within the polish which may be either wax, shellac (French polish) or something synthetic. You can use a proprietary ring or mark remover such as ' Ringaway', follow the instructions on how to apply it, usually by rubbing with a soft cloth or use a solution of water and malt vinegar in the proportion of a sherry glass of vinegar to litre of cold water. Watch VERY carefully the effect and if it does not start to remove the white mark fairly quickly, stop. If the wood suddenly starts to turn a darker colour stop immediately and in both cases give the job to a qualified restorer. If the mark is dark before you start, do not try anything but give to a restorer to deal with because the damage will have penetrated the finish and is probably in the wood beneath.
  
  
• We have just installed under-floor heating and are wondering if it has any implications for antique furniture?  Obviously all the furniture will now be directly on the heat source. Would these levels of heat be damaging? And if so, how do we protect the furniture best?
  You pose a most interesting question for which I believe there is no definitive answer despite underfloor heating having been around for a good 2000 years!
  
  The most significant factor so far as damage to wooden objects/antique furniture are concerned is the relevant humidity (RH) of the atmosphere in which they are kept. The lower the humidity the greater the potential danger of structural and surface damage. In modern house environments an RH of 4-5% is not unusual and potentially damaging to antique furniture. For peace of mind in the safety of antique furniture an RH of 8-10% should be sought. This, in conditions of low RH, can be achieved in several ways short of opening and keeping open the windows:
  
  
  • Installation of a humidifier
  • Hanging water containers with felt wicks on the radiators
  • Putting bowls or other containers of water under the furniture
  
  
  In relation to underfloor heating, the relevance of RH remains the same but the problem could be exacerbated by the transfer of heat, albeit quite low, from the floor surfaces into the furniture. I suggest in this case that the effect of such heat transfer is probably greater in relation to case furniture and longcase clock cases because of the natural heatsinks they tend to provide ie, the heated air is not able to escape so easily as it can with chairs and tables. Therefore I would recommend proceeding as if the house has more conventional central heating and perhaps double glazing as described above.