Rush Chair

[SteveA]

Antique maple side chair - all loose with broken spindles.  The spindle that goes into the seat are two 45 cuts epoxied together than shaped.  The top of the spindle have tapered inserts that I saw a guy do on line  this way years ago.  You drill out a tapered hole using tapered spade bits that you grind down to the profile.  The tapered fit allows you to glue in a new spindle part without weakening the sides of the existing spindle.  It works well - two sizes pictured 1/2 in. and 3/4 in. I just need to trim the top of the back rest spindle to length
SA


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[SteveA]

This chair came in with half the foot missing when the stem caster broke sideways and the side of the foot was lost.  Glued a block of walnut on - chair is rosewood but the walnut will color like rosewood and is easier to carve - almost done - a little filling to do

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[kodydog]

Awesome work Steve. You are the master.

[SteveA]

[SteveA]

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This butcher block table came in and made up for an otherwise slow week.  Forgot to take a before photo but the finish was very dirty and worn.  Customer wanted the golden oak color back to match their oak windsor chairs.  The one photo using the flash is the true color - golden yellow.  A nice job - strip, wash, sand by machine then by hand to 150 garnet.  Vacuum off and wash again with TSP.  Water rinse and 5 coats of NC gloss lacquer.  No stain and no rubbing necessary - finish right off the gun. 
SA

[SteveA]

This chair came in today for an arm repair.  The customer was so nervous  about her antique chair.  I assured her not to worry - after she left and I started to do the repair I'm looking at the side and for a second I thought I frayed the fabric but it was just pieced and she was worried about me ? 
SA




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[kodydog]

Steve, I have no doubt she will be very pleased with your work.

Generally we send repairs like this to the refinisher. I could tell the customer was on a budget so I told the customer I would give it my best shot. I don't think she was expecting to much. I spent way too much time repairing it. It was her mothers chair and was left in a barn for several years. When we delivered it she was in a back bedroom. When she came around the corner and saw the chair she started to cry tears of joy (I think).
https://photos.app.goo.gl/m8ryELYTcYZvnKhS9
https://photos.app.goo.gl/b6mybTYwN8WLHPnY8
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Js95ukjPCj9f8pcT9

[SteveA]

The final looks great - no need to refinish - won't change that there were splits. Besides most refinishers aren't good woodworkers.  There money is in strip and spray work.   No one looks that close at antiques - they're expected to have wood variations for all the years of use. 
Looks like a comfortable chair
SA

[SteveA]

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This chair from a medical office.  The frame is pressed wood - it crumbled.  I cut out the broken areas and patched in some plywood.  Crude repairs - but a job is a job.  The sheet of synthetic webbing was stapled to the frame and some patient went right through it.  The sheet goods didn't tear but the particle board collapsed
SA

[kodydog]

Looks like a nice lawsuit to me.

When working in a factory one day the supervisor gathered us all around. He said a lady was sitting in one of our chairs at a lawyers office and sliced her finger on a staple when for some reason she reached under the chair. She was suing the company. This thought always sticks with me when stapling the black bottom on.

[SteveA]

These chairs don't even have a black bottom - it's open underneath.  I think I will install cambric to make them keep their fingers out of there
SA

[SteveA]

Caught a nice job over the weekend - 8 chairs - all loose - all need reglue.  Customer recovered the seats 1 year ago by laying a piece of dacron over the old seat and fabric then wrapped the stripped fabric.  The covering was loose and the seat was flat.  I'm using 2 inch 45 and topped with their piece of dacron.  I am having a bit of a hard time reusing the fabric because the increased depth isn't leaving much to pull




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[MinUph]

I'm surprised you got the fabric back on Steve. I would turn that part down and make them get new fabric. But it looks great.

[kodydog]

Looks good Steve. I could make a good living if all I did was dining seats. The neat thing about dining seats is the customer cannot go out and buy a whole set, table and chairs and maybe even a server or china cabinet for less than we can recover 6 or 8 chairs. Even if they all need new foam and joints fixed its still cheaper than new. I keep 1-1/2" foam just for dining seats. To me this is the perfect size.

[SteveA]

I am always thankful for your insight and suggestions.  It's amazing what you can see in a photo that I don't see in person.  The fabric jockeying is a pain and there are some places where I have less than 3/4 of an inch to staple.  New fabric would have been the best solution but they loved the fabric - and I am more often removing and replacing fabric to do repair work rather than new upholstery therefore in my mind this was a common course but yes your solution makes much more sense.  Keep in mind - I'M NOT AN UPHOLSTERER but this job looked to be in my wheelhouse.   
It was not as bad working with the stripes as I thought - in fact as I pulled in the sides the stripe helped me to align the fabric along the wood rail sides making the front to back seat height even. 1-1/2 inch foam would have been better but since the seat was plywood with no hole cut out and webbing I was thinking this is like a bench seat go with 2 inch. 
After I did the first seat I sat in it and it didn't feel balanced but what I realized was I hadn't pushed the seat far enough back and this corrected the unbalanced feeling.  I have the seat back a little further than the way it was when I took it apart and it's better for sitting - the look is a little different but not wrong.  The seat should have been designed a little longer but how much can you be expected to correct ?
6 chairs are done and only the arm chairs remain - I need to order another sheet of foam to finish the job but my wife said why not glue all those cut off pieces together -
SA