Introduction and first project

[B1-RDman]

Hello all,
My name is Randy, I live in Washington state and am getting ready to have a go at some upholstery projects. I've been lurking around a few weeks and have learned a lot already. You all look like one the friendliest groups I've come across. I'm going to take a stab at getting some images here and then I have a few questions if I may.


Here's the poor abused chair I'm going to work on. It's been left out in the weather and is pretty bleached out and has some loose pieces. I'm pretty handy with that kind of stuff so shouldn't see any problems structure wise.



Someone has nailed a piece of wall paneling under the cambric. Nice touch for sure.



Here's a picture of the back. The backsides of the top and bottom rails have more holes than Bonnie and Clyde.



Closer shot of the inside back. Notice that all of the back rails have holes front and back next to the stiles.

So then, as I move forward, here's where I'm at with my assumptions.

1. I like lost dogs, stray cats and saving hopeless cases.

2. I'm thinking that this chair never had springs. It had webbing on the top with padding built up over that and covered. I'm assuming the webbing failed and sunk so they nailed the board on bottom.

3. I'm also thinking the inside back was covered and trim was added around the rails at the stiles on the center two back rails.

Do you agree with these assumptions? Any suggestions? I'm not looking for an upholstery 101 course here for free. Just hoping for a little direction and encouragement. I'm doing lots of studying on techniques and have watched tons of videos including Bucks mission chair videos on youtube which I think covers most of what I have ahead of me here.

Thanks for any help you can offer. I look forward to being part of the community.

Randy

[sofadoc]

Welcome Randy. My "Spidey senses" told me that someone was lurking. :D

Don't even try to understand Darren. He only speaks Canadian. ;)

Click on the pic that I copied from your media, and you'll see some arrows that suggest there was a drop-in spring unit mounted at one time:

Tha paneling was probably added to reinforce the sagging spring unit.

It looks like over the years, somebody has added and removed all kinds of padding on the back.  Someone probably wanted a little lumbar support.

There are a lot of ways to attack this project. For a 1st timer, padding over webbing would be the easiest.
You can trim it with nailheads, gimp, or double cording.

[byhammerandhand]

I can help you more with the wood parts.  I'd hate to see you spend a lot of time on upholstery and ignore the frame.

* You should consider disassembling the chair, replacing what are probably dowel pins in the joints and gluing it back up.   If there are any nails that were added, remove them and throw them away.  Nails don't keep joints from getting loose, but they can cause breakage during use or keep them from coming apart without risking collateral damage.  Are those nails in the outside back of the slats???  

* Unless you really like the weathered look, I'd then consider stripping and refinishing.   This will bring out a lot of the figure in the wood and loose that gray dull and fuzzy look.

* The black marks you see all around the nail holes are caused by a reaction of iron in the nails/tacks, tannins in the oak, and moisture.   Once you have it stripped, you can bleach it out with oxalic acid.  Directions here: http://www.woodcentral.com/bparticles/woodbleach.shtml

* Filling the holes is up to you.   This would be tougher one.   I use Elmer's Professional Wood Filler on refinishing projects.  If you are not going to refinish, about the easiest, but not the most beautiful is wax filler sticks.  Get a couple of like colors and blend them in your holes.

Welcome to the group, you can send Sofadoc your first year's dues and me you initiation fee. ;)

[sofadoc]

Welcome to the group, you can send Sofadoc your first year's dues and me you initiation fee. ;)

C'mon Hammer! How come YOU always get the "Up-front" money? And I get stuck trying to collect membership dues? >:(

[Darren Henry]

Don't even try to understand Darren. He only speaks Canadian. Wink

Dennis; "Take off, you hoser!" (see great white north episodes from Sat. night live)

Randy; "Good day,eh!Like how's it goin' anywaaayz?" Welcome from the Great White North , eh. Want a Beer?

All kidding aside I'll flip on my Canadian = American translator app.

I agree with your first assumption---but this isn't hopeless at all.What does make it a little tougher is the fact that the chair has been stripped after being "modified" . The forensics are going to be tough to figure out what was original and what came with the wallboard. Kind of like you striping your glider down and sending me half of it to re-build.

What type and amount of padding and trim is hard to guess. AMAZING GROUP OF TALENTED PEOPLE HERE so someone may jump in with " I did one of those last year and .......

Keith (hammerandhand) specializes in wood work. He's dead right again.

Dennis is old. He and his Grandmother may have built that chair  :D .I would have thought 8 way tied seat springs---but if the 'Doc say's inlaid unit---I bow to experience. He has more knowledge than I on antiques.

 

[sofadoc]

I would have thought 8 way tied seat springs---but if the 'Doc say's inlaid unit---I bow to experience. He has more knowledge than I on antiques.

Actually, there are plenty of holes that would suggest the 8-way method as well. I guess that chair has had as many different methods as it has had upholsterers. Either way, it had springs at some point. And probably on the most recent attempt, it only had webbing/padding.

Randy: If you've already been soaking up Buck's videos, you're way ahead.

[B1-RDman]

Thanks for all the replies. I got the lovely piece of wall paneling off the bottom. Your're right sofadoc, more than one upholsterer on this one. And judging by all the fasteners I ripped out of the bottom, one of them was a sheet rocker, one was a roofer and one was a finish carpenter. There were two or three upholstery tacks as well. But just for authenticity I'm sure.

Also right in that upon closer inspection, there are signs of a metal spring frame. I'll either web the bottom and order some springs or just web the top and go from there. This project is just for getting my feet wet in upholstery so I'm not sure if I'll refinish the wood but it is tempting.

So if go with bottom webbing I need to determine how deep of springs to buy. The depth from the webbing to the top of the sides will be 4". I'll be tossing the strips that the spring frame sat on and putting my spring ties right into the top of the oak sides.

Thanks again, checks in the mail guys!

Randy

[Mojo]

Thanks for all the replies. I got the lovely piece of wall paneling off the bottom. Your're right sofadoc, more than one upholsterer on this one. And judging by all the fasteners I ripped out of the bottom, one of them was a sheet rocker, one was a roofer and one was a finish carpenter. There were two or three upholstery tacks as well. But just for authenticity I'm sure.

LOL......LMAO........ And that folks is the quote of the month. Hilarious. Thanks for the laugh Randy.

Chris

[Mike]

Don't even try to understand Darren. He only speaks Canadian. Wink

Dennis; "Take off, you hoser!" (see great white north episodes from Sat. night live)

Randy; "Good day,eh!"

 

you know ive got a  Canadian neighbor ive done some work for who actually says Eh ......eh

"see this tear Eh?"

[B1-RDman]

I'm just about an hour from Canada and hear "eh" and "good day" pretty regularly.

Seems funny till I heard a guy from Canada talking about how often people from the USA use "uh" and terms like "take it easy" or "catch you later".

On the chair, I decided to tear it down and re-glue and refinish the whole thing. It's completely apart and about half stripped.

Catch ya on the flip side, eh!
Randy