Mark started his working life as an armature winder and hated the work.?? He was made redundant, saw an oak chest outside a dealers shop, bought it, restored it, and found a sort of work he enjoyed and? he could develop into a business.
He is largely self taught and will have a go at anything, and the results are amazing.??? He has developed the trust of antique dealers and work full time at his trade.

He learnt about french polishing during a family party when he quizzed a relative who had been in the trade. ?? He repairs Victorian and Georgian furniture using appropriate veneers, some bought commercially and some hand cut from reclaimed timber.

He uses traditional techniques where appropriate and modern tools where they are better.?? He uses an old fashioned glue pot with fish / animal glues because these do not need clamping and work quicker than modern glues and can be reactivated by applying a heated iron should a piece of veneer bubble up.?? Here he is using a veneer hammer to squeeze veneers on to a job so that it does not bubble and meets the other veneer already there seamlessly.

Sanding is by hand as machines dig circular squiggles in the veneer that are impossible to remove