Grace Woodwork
Is it cheaper to repair or replace?
On anything built before about 1980, almost always repair — and what you already own is better made than the replacement would be.
Furniture Repair in Big Sandy, TX
Repair and refinishing for Big Sandy — because fixing a good piece almost always costs less than replacing it with a worse one.
Repair beats replacement, and it is not close
On anything built before about 1980, the piece you already own is better made than what the same money would buy new. Solid timber instead of particle board, joints that were cut instead of stapled, and a frame that can be taken apart and put back together rather than thrown out when one corner goes.
A dining chair that has started to rock does not need a new set. It needs taking apart, the old glue cleaned out, and gluing and clamping properly. Done right it will outlast anything you would have bought to replace it, and it costs a fraction of the price.
A railroad town from the start
Big Sandy began as Big Sandy Switch, where the Texas and Pacific line met the narrow-gauge Tyler Tap — both part of the Union Pacific now. The post office, a newspaper, stores and churches followed, and the settlement incorporated in 1926 with about eight hundred and fifty people. It sits at the junction of Highway 80 and State Highway 155, fourteen miles south-west of Gilmer.
Towns that old have furniture that old, often several generations into the same family. Those pieces are worth keeping and worth doing properly.
What comes in
Loose and broken joints. Chairs that rock or have given way at the back. Drawers that bind, drop or sit crooked. Lifted and blistered veneer. Water rings, heat marks and sun-faded tops. Split boards and cracked legs. Missing moldings and turned parts cut to match rather than ordered. Pieces somebody already tried to fix once with the wrong glue, which is nothing to apologize for.
You will know the price before anything starts
Nothing gets quoted sight unseen and nothing gets started before you have agreed a number. If a repair is going to cost more than the piece is worth to you, we will say so plainly rather than take the work. And if part of a job can wait, we will tell you which part.
Thirty minutes from the shop
The shop is in Kilgore. We collect and return rather than expecting you to move furniture yourself. Start with a photo on your phone — it is usually enough to say whether something is a simple fix or a bigger job.
Questions we get from Big Sandy
Is one chair too small a job?
No. One chair is a perfectly normal job.
Will you tell me if it is not worth fixing?
Yes, plainly, and before any work starts. We would rather say so than take the job.
Do you collect from Big Sandy?
Yes. It is about thirty minutes from the Kilgore shop and we collect and return.
Furniture Repair and the towns around Big Sandy
The shop is in Kilgore and we travel from here — as far as Lufkin when the job is worth the drive.