Sunday, March 3, 2013

Repairs



It's odd the things that people remember. Parents will arrange a birthday party, certain it will stick in your mind forever. You'll have a nice time, then two years later you'll be like, 'There was a pony there? Really? And a clown with one leg?'
David Sedaris





Every so often people want me to repair a chair for them.  More to the point, people want advice on how to fix chairs (how hard can it be, right?).   Sadly, most of the chairs that I see for repair are really not worth fixing, and or they are it's a quick epoxy and super glue deal. 

But then this showed up.  A local couple saw the article in the Bangor Daily News and contacted me about fixing an old Windsor they had for awhile, "quite awhile" they said.  So the Roger drove up and dropped of the chair and I was amazed.  This is a sweet chair.  It's a rocker, and really all the chair needs is the rockers fixed, and a couple pieces added to the elbow of the bow (see the flat slightly white part directly above the base of the arm). 





This chair, while factory made, is amazing.  It's a Fan Back, although at first blush it looks like an armed hoop back.  It has pipe stem spindles and a couple bracing spindles to boot. 





The arms are carved out of one solid piece of Mahogany and have carved knuckles.  I believe the seat was upholstered at one point, and the owner wants to, well, to be more precise, I talked him into finishing the seat with green leather.   Black milk paint, the arms will be natural mahogany, and with the green leather seat and brass tacks she will be beautiful.   The chair is really solid, and should be a pretty straight forward fix.  I'm definitely going to take some measures of this one and add it to my line. 




As to family life, last weekend at The Aroostook State Park they had Family Fun Day and I took my girls to the dog sledding and sliding.   We had such a great time and the turnout was amazing.



 
They even had the LL Bean Boot truck, and of course Smokey.



 

6 comments:

  1. Your rocker originally had a rush seat, that is what the depressions in the seat rails are for. Depending on how old it is it may have been twisted paper.

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  2. I agree but how did they wrap the back if they couldn't go around the back? I've never done a rush seat but I can't see how the back was done..

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    1. I've done a few of these, some the backs were screwed on from the bottom and some they were doweled on but they all had removable backs.

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  3. I've done a few of these some the backs were screwed on from the bottom and some the backs were doweled on but they all had removable backs.

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    1. I'll do another post w better pics, but for the Windsor to work, the back pieces go right thru the back piece. Im really confused now.

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  4. Seeing the pictures is you have a great time with your families. Well am I concern on your chair repairs Sydney is specializes in repairing all kinds of chair if it is possible. Better yet to consult an expert I know that is very meaningful in your relatives.

    ReplyDelete