Rod Naylor's Antique Restoration

Our antique restoration business was established in 1970 and is now mainly mail order with clients worldwide.

We are a supplier of non-standard and obsolete restoration materials not easily found elsewhere to antique restorers and private clients.

Clients include antique collectors, museum conservators, furniture designers, woodcarvers, artists, musical instrument makers, needlework tool collectors, box makers and bonsai tree growers amongst others.

Our expertise is in the field of fine cabinet work, carving and turning especially of 18th and 19th Century items made in natural materials such as wood, ivory, horn and tortoiseshell. We have a wide knowledge of the construction, manufacture, conservation and restoration of items from this period, and work on varied projects from a Chippendale desk to the smallest turned knob.

All restoration undertaken normally uses materials of the same date from recycled sources to comply with CITES regulations. Authentic historic tools are used to replicate the original tool marks.

Materials used include bone, horn, pewter, simulated ivory, ivory, brass, mother-of-pearl, turtle shell and hardwoods such as box, ebony, lignum and rosewood.

Oak and Laurel Leaves
Rod Naylor
(limewood)

15 × 10 ½ × 2 ¼ in
(380 × 265 × 57 mm)
The leaves themselves were carved to their real life thickness.
Note the small ribbon. Where it does not lie against the branches
it is pierced through.

"Rod Naylor is a versatile craftsman: carver, restorer and advisor to collectors, museums and the National Trust. He produces both carvings and sculpture in a variety of styles ranging from that of Grinling Gibbons to modern.

Like so many carvers, Rod's woodcarving career began with just a penknife and a piece of driftwood. His work now receives international acclaim. He is author of "Woodcarving Techniques"
(Batsford 1979, 1987, 1989)."

Extract from Jeremy Williams (1994) "Decorative Woodcarving"
published by Guild of Master Craftsman Publications Ltd.