One of the most common requests is where someone asked for me to repair a wooden chair for them. I enjoy doing this because the chair is usually in sad shape when it comes to the shop so what is the worst that could possibly happen when I mess with it? I decided for this week's blog I would show some of the chairs that I have worked on lately.
To the left is a rocker that was used to rock my wife, Pam, to sleep when she was a little babe. There is nothing special about the wood in this rocker. It just had some sentimental value from being in the family for so long. I would guess that it could be 70 plus years old or maybe even more. When it came to the Dag shop it had been covered with five coats of paint and it once had a caned seat, that was wore out or let's just say it was missing. A few of the joints were loose and in bad shape. This was a project that took a lot of time to strip the paint off. We uphosltered a new seat using a leather like material. There are lots of little dings and a nicks, (I think it is called character) but the chair when finished turned out nice. 
This chair to the right just came to the shop recently. It is made up of good quality hard wood and is very old. The seat of this chair was split and a couple of the back spindles were pulled out of joint. The goal here was to glue up the seat and get the spindles back in line without any of the glue lines showing. A little forced pressure from some clamps and everything seemed to come together well. (Antique Roadshow would be proud of me.) I will have to return this chair shortly. There were a few little paint drippings here and there as it appeared that someone may have used this chair at one time to stand on while painting. I cleaned up the paint, but left the finish on the chair as it was. When it returns to its owner, it will be part of a dining room set.
Here is a little high chair that also came to the shop recently. This chair is known to be well over 100 years old. The finish was a little rough. One of the arms had been broken off and a spindle that supported the back legs was missing. Over time someone - a relative to the chair owner - had built a replacement arm but it was not very solid. In fact it would not stay attached. I was asked if I could fix the spindle and somehow fix that replacement arm so it would stay solid. Shown to the left is the arm with an extension - the new wood - added on. I cleaned up the chair, stained the new spindle and arm extension to match but was asked to leave the finsh as it was. It turned out nice. To the right, you can see the grandkids sitting in the very chair that their Great Grandpa Weber once sat in. Pretty neat.
Last is a chair that was bought on a garage sale for a buck. Something that could have made good campfire wood. It's a kids chair made out of oak and the seat was cracked through the middle. I glued up the seat, fixed a joint, stained and varnished the whole chair. It sits in the kids area of our basement. Of course, currently their are no kids at home. Just that doggone cat who thinks she's a kid. Someday... Well, there have been other chairs that have come through the shop and there will probably be more. It is always neat when you know that a chair has been in the family for some time and has a story or two that comes with it.
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