Campana Woodworking — Local services in Blackberry Township

My husband's grandparents received a hutch for their wedding day...and that was a long time ago considering the bride died over a year ago as she was approaching her 109th birthday. It was a beautiful hutch that stood the test of time, children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren as it is solid wood. When it was left to us we knew we wanted to preserve it for the generations that followed.The problem now is who do we leave it to when we are no longer here...and now even a bigger problem as Jim Campana repaired and transformed it into a piece that is envied by so many! This weekend we picked the hutch up and were just beyond ourselves how beautiful it came out. Jim put so much TLC into the project....pulled it apart, cleaned it up, put it back together, removed the old finish, sanded and allowed us to pick the stain color. His craftsmanship and knowledge truly reflects the high quality of work he does. He treats every piece like it is his own! You can feel the love he puts into every piece! Jim understands legacy work and how much people want to preserve furniture for generations to come. He really knows his stuff and you can see and feel how much he is energized by his "art". His workshop is impeccable and he does all the work on his own. If you have a piece of furniture you want to put new life in to, contact Jim. He will extend the life of your piece of furniture for many generations to come. Jim isn't a five star review.....there are many more stars that make his work shine! ...

I had an antique family piece which immigrated with my great-grandparents from Germany and Denmark. Over the 125-plus years, the wood had warped, shrunk, and cracked. My goal was to preserve the piece for several more generations, while maintaining the carvings and stampings and without changing the character. In looking for someone to preserve an antique family piece, I was initially captured by his website. After talking with Jim on the phone and then meeting with him in person, I could tell he was very passionate about his woodworking craft. His well-organized and well-equipped work space is filled with amazing tools and a variety of furniture in several stages of preservation and renovation. It was immediately apparent that Jim takes pride in his woodworking shop and, most importantly, in his work. And indeed, Jim did an awesome job of preserving the piece! You could tell he wanted to return it to me in the best way he could, and he did! He seemed to take genuine pride with the finished preservation! The family is so very excited and happy that we can enjoy this piece for many...

Oh my!

Jim came to our house in February to look at an antique hutch from the early 1900s that my great great grandfather built into an apartment for his daughter. When Jim approached the hutch, his eyes got big, and he started making observations. We knew we had found the right person for the job!

Jim walked us through our options to repair the hutch and we settled on conserving it versus trying to make it into something it was not. Moving the very large and heavy piece to the shop in Elburn took some doing as Jim had to remove the stained-glass doors and hire help. As Jim worked on the hutch, he us invited to visit the shop as we needed to make decisions.

The beauty came home in August, and we could not be happier! She is gorgeous, and we know she is “stronger in the broken places." We highly recommend Jim who we fondly call our "Furniture Detective/Doctor", and we look forward to working...