The red chair

[Thumbthumper]

Thought I'd post some pics of my current WIP.

Found for $15 on some local classifieds.

It's a Melbourne Company Emu chair. Probably early 1900's.
Blackwood spindles and legs. Kauri seat and Hoop pine steam pressed back.
The seat is an obvious replacement. From photos online, it looks like they were a four piece frame with a caned centre.
I'll have a go at making a new one including the caning.

306885306886306887

It would have originally looked like this.

306891

First part of the process is to take it all apart.
I had to deepen the screw slots to take the long and rusty screws out to release the seat. I used a Dremel and a cutting disc.
They came out fine after that.

306888

I used a heat gun to warm the glue in the joints. I then gently tapped the joints apart.
I didn't break any spindles :2tsup:

306889306890

The red paint was easy to scrape off as it had been painted directly over the original varnish.
A bit of heat and it took no time at all.

306892

I'll clean it all down with metho and steel wool later.
All the spindles will be put into the lathe to finish cleaning and to give them a polish.

This may take some time to complete as I'm stupidly busy at the moment, but I'll post some pics when I get back to it.

Cheers all,
Stu

[Thumbthumper]

I got a chance to do some more cleaning.

The spindles.
I scrubbed them down and gave them their first coat of polish whilst spinning in the lathe.
Before, during and after ...

307544307545307546

I used some stripper and steel wool to get the last of the paint and varnish off the back.
You can see the emus now :U

307547

I cut up some old kauri stair treads to make the seat frame.
You can see the wear from thousands of shoes on the tread in this pic.

307548

I can now glue the chair together. I'll do that soon and then build the seat frame.

[Thumbthumper]

I started the first bit of the glue-up this afternoon.

The hide glue is warming and the bits are laid out ready.
I can't begin to describe the earthy smell in the shed at the moment :yeahright:

308026

The first stage.
After this, I glued on the back, back legs, and spindle.

308027308028

Whenever I use hide glue in the workshop, I only have to pop out for a second and my dog takes up residence. That glue must smell very good if you're a bloodhound :U

308034

[Thumbthumper]

The chair is now all glued up.
I've started work on the seat frame.

308164

I marked out a rough template on the old seat to get the dimensions for the frame.

308165

Ripping and planing off the kauri boards.

308166308167

Marking out the frame with the sliding bevel. I Knifed the lines and chiseled to the line for a crisp tenon shoulder.

308168

Next job is to cut the mortices and tenons.

[Thumbthumper]

I spent the morning working on the mortices and tenons.

I used the router plane to make sure the tenons were perfectly parallel. It needs to be a good fit for the seat frame.
I've chopped out the front mortices. 2nd pic is the dry fit. I still need to make up the back section.

308269308270

The only other thing I achieved was a couple of rubs of polish on the chair frame.

[burraboy]

I've played around with a few of these and similar over the years. I've usually found that the spindles aren't glued, just free in the holes, and the seats are usually dowelled rather than m&t'ed. Are you going for a hand caned seat or the press fit?
Should turn out alright!

[Thumbthumper]

I've played around with a few of these and similar over the years. I've usually found that the spindles aren't glued, just free in the holes, and the seats are usually dowelled rather than m&t'ed. Are you going for a hand caned seat or the press fit?
Should turn out alright!

The spindles were a tight fit, but there was old glue residue in each of the holes and on the tips of the spindles. I can only guess that they would have been glued originally?

I haven't seen an original seat for one of these, and they may well have been dowelled. They were all machine made, so this wouldn't surprise me. I'm hoping that M&Ts will be as strong if not stronger than dowells. The frame needs to be as strong as possible.

I'm (or SWMBO is) going to have a go at hand caning. I'll be drilling all the holes once the seat is completed. The spacing is determined by the cane size. The holes also need to be drilled at different angles so that there is not a weak strip around the inside of the seat frame.

If anyone has one of these chairs, please fell free to knock the seat apart and take some photos for me :U.

[springwater]

I have one thats been following me around for about twenty years. It sits in the garage at the moment with a cardboard box containing I cant remember what off the concrete floor. It has one broken leg that someone has tried to fix badly but other than that it's ok except for the seat as you can see has had better days. I thought the pics may help, sorry about the quality though. I can't determine how it's joined, definately no holes drilled through for the caning though.
308465308466308467

[Thumbthumper]

I have one thats been following me around for about twenty years. It sits in the garage at the moment with a cardboard box containing I cant remember what off the concrete floor. It has one broken leg that someone has tried to fix badly but other than that it's ok except for the seat as you can see has had better days. I thought the pics may help, sorry about the quality though. I can't determine how it's joined, definately no holes drilled through for the caning though.


Wow, thanks for the pics.

From what I see it looks like the canes are coming up through holes? Is there no cane poking through underneath?
If not, I'm wondering how the cane insert is attached.

I'm pretty sure in any case that if we hand cane and bind it with the same shape it'll come up ok.

[springwater]

Hang on Thumper I'm tucking into a Tassie Atlantic salmon at the moment and nothings going to stop medoing that. I'll post a pic or two of the underside soon.

[Thumbthumper]

Hang on Thumper I'm tucking into a Tassie Atlantic salmon at the moment and nothings going to stop medoing that. I'll post a pic or two of the underside soon.

Nice .....

I've just finished my slow-cooked lamb shanks and a red wine gravy. Time to put the feet up and digest :U

Thanks for your time.

[springwater]

Ok got the old girl out into some fading light. No holes drilled through the seat except for two, one on either side, not sure of their purpose though, see pic of underside. What I thought was a repair isn't, it's just the way the seat is fixed to the leg. See how the thicker cane is recessed into the seat? The back rest is definately tennoned in, I assume the seat is joined the same way. I'm also assuming the chair has the remenants of its original seat, sure looks like it.

308469308470308471308472308473308474308475308476

[Thumbthumper]

Yep, that definitely looks like remnants of the original caning. Some sort of manufactured insert.
It also seems that there is a routed chamfer on the front and back sections of the seat frame. I'll do something similar I suppose.
The whole back section is tennoned, I've already put all that back together.

Once again, thanks for the pics. It's a great help.

[springwater]

No probs :2tsup:

[burraboy]

The seats on these spindle backs were usually 'pressed cane' like in Springwaters example. A groove is routed into the seat and the pre-woven cane is pressed in when it is wet and is glued and held with a rattan 'plug' as you can see in the pic. All these seats are notoriously shortlived, especially the hand woven ones. The thickness of the seat is another factor which will lead to its early demise. Hand woven bentwood chairs have at least 1" of seat thickness and a round shape which gives extra strength. I suspect you only have about a 3/4" seat thickness to work with and straight lines which will be very fragile, even with offset holes.
The best solution I have found for these seats is to use a leather insert in a shallow rebate along the inside edge of the seat. The leather can be hand tooled into some interesting designs. Either that or use solid seats, they can be shaped nicely too.

[Thumbthumper]

The seats on these spindle backs were usually 'pressed cane' like in Springwaters example. A groove is routed into the seat and the pre-woven cane is pressed in when it is wet and is glued and held with a rattan 'plug' as you can see in the pic. All these seats are notoriously shortlived, especially the hand woven ones. The thickness of the seat is another factor which will lead to its early demise. Hand woven bentwood chairs have at least 1" of seat thickness and a round shape which gives extra strength. I suspect you only have about a 3/4" seat thickness to work with and straight lines which will be very fragile, even with offset holes.
The best solution I have found for these seats is to use a leather insert in a shallow rebate along the inside edge of the seat. The leather can be hand tooled into some interesting designs. Either that or use solid seats, they can be shaped nicely too.

I agree about the strength.
I'm thinking that a lot of the 'sitting' pressure will be on the frame and not on the caning. The thickness is 22mm (about 7/8"). The frame is made now, and it seems pretty strong.
We'll have a go at the caning (with offset holes) and see how it holds up. The FIL has a few caned Cedar railbacks, and while they look good, are original, and are quite comfy, they have a limited life before they need re-caning.
If all else fails, the backup is a nice wide Kauri board that I'll make into a solid seat. The chair is not just for looks, it will be sat upon :U

[Thumbthumper]

Thought I'd post a couple of pics of the dry fit and the glue up.

308757308758

I'll start shaping the seat when the glue dries.

The cane I'll be using is about 3mm. That means the holes need to be 18mm apart. I'll map this out when the seat is shaped.

[Thumbthumper]

Shaping the seat.

I used a low angle block plane to trim up the end grain of the frame.
Second pic is rounding over the edges for comfort.

308829308830

Cutting out the notches to fit the seat in to the back of the chair.

308833

I used the bandsaw to rough out the back of the seat, and a compass plane to smooth it off.

308831308832

The seat is all done now.
I've marked out the hole positions with an awl ready for drilling.

308834

I'll wait for the arrival of the cane before I drill the holes. I need to check the hole size. The holes have to have multiple canes poked through them.

When it comes time to polish the frame, I'll wash it over with some dirty cleaning spirits first to age it a bit (after I drill the holes).

[jcge]

When it comes time to polish the frame, I'll wash it over with some dirty cleaning spirits first to age it a bit (after I drill the holes).

Very nifty trick....real aged dirt !! I like it

John

[Thumbthumper]

I've finished drilling the holes ready for the caning.

Some progress shots.

All 1/4" holes at slight offset angles.

309156

I used a countersink bit in a brace just to soften the hole entries so they wouldn't be too sharp for the cane (top and bottom). Only a very light touch was needed.

309157

This shot of the underneath shows how I angled each alternate hole slightly so as to not weaken the seat frame too much.

309158

I'm a bit stumped now as to how I'm going to drill the holes for the front legs.
The seat is only 22mm, so a speedbore or an auger bit won't work as they have a long lead screw (or point).
I could use a forstner bit, but the holes are at a slight angle. I don't think forstner bits drill well at an angle and I don't have an 18mm one.
What I really need is an 18mm twist drill, and I don't have one. I'll check with some of my mates to see if I can borrow one, or I may have to buy one. It's a big sucker and it may not be cheap.
I may also be able to use the auger bit to get in about a third of the way and carve the rest out with a gouge?
Dunno, I'll have to have a think :?

[Thumbthumper]

I managed to drill some tight holes for the front legs by first using a speed bore at an angle, and then using a small gouge to deepen the holes. I'm happy with how they turned out.
Here's the starting point for the holes.

309365

I used a gimlet to mark the seat for the big old screws. This also gives me the correct angle for the pilot holes.

309366

Washing the seat frame with some dirty spirits. There's a lot of 100 year old plus dirt in there :U

309367

A couple of neat coats of shellac, and a good rub with a shellac/BLO mix.

309368309369

I've decided to fit the seat frame to the chair because I think it'll be easier to finish the polishing and do the caning while it's in situ.
Just prior to the glue up. It's drying now.

309370

The next job is to complete the polishing. Then it's time to give the caning a go.

[Thumbthumper]

The chair's pretty much done now apart from the caning.
I might give it a couple of more rubs with polish.

309456

Next challenge is some weaving when the cane arrives.

[Thumbthumper]

Cane's arrived!

The chair should be done soon.
We'll see how the weaving goes :?

311197

[AlexS]

A tip - load up on golf tees to hold the cane in the holes as you weave.

[Thumbthumper]

A tip - load up on golf tees to hold the cane in the holes as you weave.

I'm onto it :U

Not being a golfer, I made up a batch of pine pegs.
Some tutorials say to use three pegs and walk them around the frame, tying the cane off as you go.
Some tutorials peg each loose strand and tie off when it's all done.
I made enough so that I could do it either way.

311250

[burraboy]

They used to employ blind people to do caning in the early 1900's. Enjoy!

[Thumbthumper]

They used to employ blind people to do caning in the early 1900's. Enjoy!

Our "special" doctor prescribed this job for the missus and I :U

I can do blind as well.
Shiraz?
Stout?
Cider?
Maybe a mix of all the above prior to the weaving.

[Thumbthumper]

The caning is finally underway.

SWMBO (pinchyfinger on these forums) found some time today to begin work on the chair.

Here's some progress shots. The horizontals and verticals are done. Just the diagonals to go now.

313437313439313441

[Thumbthumper]

The first set of diagonals are almost done now. The girl's getting good at this :U

313539

Once the binding goes on around the edge, I'll give it a light waxing.

[Thumbthumper]

The chair is officially finshed. A $15 chair turned into a $1000 chair (after you consider the hours of work involved :doh:)

Here's a shot of the caning after the binding was applied.

313804

Here is the finished chair. Will be moving it into position with the other motley crew around the dining table.

313805

Thanks to all who had a look.

[burraboy]

Looks good! But you had better show us if there are any 'dragons teeth' on the underside.

[Thumbthumper]

Looks good! But you had better show us if there are any 'dragons teeth' on the underside.

Not too many. She used the 'no-knot' method which involves tucking the ends into the next run.

There are a couple of tie offs for the binding, but I don't know if this is avoidable. A dab of white glue is recommended on these.

313856
She's done well for her first attempt. I've seen worse on old chairs :U

[gyropilot]

That looks very nice, you both did an excellent job !!!


Geoff

[burraboy]

Not too many. She used the 'no-knot' method which involves tucking the ends into the next run.

There are a couple of tie offs for the binding, but I don't know if this is avoidable. A dab of white glue is recommended on these.

313856
She's done well for her first attempt. I've seen worse on old chairs :U

Not too shabby at all! :2tsup: