| Project by Don "Dances with Wood" Butler | posted 269 days ago | 263 views | 0 times favorited | 6 comments |  |
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This strange and unusual chair was brought to me with one bottom side stretcher broken off cleanly right where it joined the back leg.
At first I was a little leery about doing anything to it for fear it was a valuable antique. After conferring with two antique dealers I was convinced it was alright to restore it. The client, by the way, was impressed over the fact that I did so much research on her behalf.
Now to the problem: I couldn’t just drill out the end of the stretcher because the pear shaped finial tapered right out to the tenon. It just wouldn’t be enough ‘meat’, even if I was so clever as to hit the stretcher dead in the center. So I copied the finial up to the next feature and left tenons on both ends of the copy. Then, not realizing I was holding my breath, I cut the original final off the stretcher and drilled it out for the new one.
The second photo shows how it came out.
By the way, take notice of the unusual features of this chair. It appears to be all original and doesn’t seem to have been much used except for the broken stretcher. A chair with such fancy carving on the back splat and crest wouldn’t ordinarily be made with a caned seat. but this looks to be original. The back legs are of unusual design, too.
I was almost as happy with it as the client.
d
-- If a man says something in the forest and there's no woman to hear it, is he still wrong?
6 comments so far
John Stegall
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216 posts in 415 days
posted 269 days ago
Great repair job! I’ve often wondered about chairs that are obviously old but show little signs of wear if that was because they were not that comfortable to sit on.
-- jstegall
Don "Dances with Wood" Butler
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281 posts in 294 days
posted 269 days ago
I suspect this was a chair reserved for some ritual use.
d
-- If a man says something in the forest and there's no woman to hear it, is he still wrong?
kiwi1969
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601 posts in 341 days
posted 269 days ago
Nice resto donbee. Did the crooks, sorry, I mean antique dealers, give any clues on the age? I would guess some kind of early victorian revival going by the shallow carving in the back and the mismatched styling cues and the fact that the crooks, sorry, antique dealers, weren,t throwing money at you to get it. They make replica,s like that here in the Philippines and yes John they become excruciatingly uncomfortable after a short period. My kingdom for a windsor!
-- if the hand is not working it is not a pure hand
tinnman65
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243 posts in 313 days
posted 269 days ago
Nice job Don, now that chair has a chance to be enjoyed by the next generation of owners, hopefully they’ll take good care of it.
-- Paul Sayre Creativity is a drug I cannot live without. Cecil B. DeMille (1881 - 1959)
Hacksaw007
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39 posts in 88 days
posted 47 days ago
Nice job. I repair furniture also. Worked for Pennsylvania House Furniture for 26 years. Nothing like creating something that has to match. My hardest part is trying to figure out want to charge for the work. And the risk of messing it up always haunts fellow repair people. But nice job. You did your homework well. A+
-- Hacksaw007
a1Jim
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17138 posts in 476 days
posted 46 days ago
looks super
-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop, custom furniture ,maker, woodworking school, heirloomwoodshop.com