Morris Chair Restoration

[Rice701]

My neighbor recently asked my to fix a chair that was his grandfathers that someone recently sat in and broke. It is an old morris chair that we currently believe might have been made around 1910 (we are currently looking into the date further). We do not know who made it, there are markings on the bottom (as seen in one of the pictures) "14SPE" and a cursive signed "J". I need to remake the broken board and re-glue almost all of the joints. I was wondering if anyone can tell me more about the chair and answer a few of the questions i had:

1). What type of finish would have been originally used on this chair? I would like to match the original finish color, type and application process as much as possible to maintain what little value will be left in the chair.

2). Is there anything specific i need to know about re-gluing the joints? On a previous project i slowly worked the loose joints apart and then slowly removed the dowels as much as possible with vice grips and then drilled the remained dowels out. I would then use new dowels and re-glue the joints. Does this sound alright so far?

On the previous project i restored, i used epoxy in the holes that still had remaining original glue in them because i was not sure how well wood glue would stick to the original glue? Is this a bad idea? What was the original type of glue used on this chair and is there an easy way to remove it and should i use the original type of glue in the restoration?

3). Is it dumb to put this much effort in keeping the glue and finish original on a chair that is broken and falling apart?

4).Will it still have any value when the restoration is finished if it is done well?


i have posted some of the pictures of the chair and the damage and the numbers and letters stamped on it.

Thanks
Andrew

[bsrlee]

Glue - if original - should be hide glue, it will soften and eventually disolve with steam or hot water, and can be easily re-glued with more of the same. You will need a glue pot to melt the glue in - available from art shops in small quantities as rabbit hide size.

You can get a ready mixed 'cold' version from some of the large woodwork shops like Carbatec (not Bunnies), made by Titebond which has formaldehyde as a preservative (allergy warning) but it has a limited shelf life of around a year FROM TIME OF MANUFACTURE - check the bottle, it will have an expiry date.

All real hide glue is reversable with heat & moisture, and is to be much preferred to any other type of glue for antique furniture. Epoxy should only be considered if there is extensive damage to the mortise socket or tennons & you don't think you can correct it with wood shims. It is not reverseable & if the mix ratio or temperature are off it won't set properly

If its not the original glue, you could be in all sorts of trouble as there have been a variety of really poor substances used as glue over the years. PVA is not too bad, just scrape off the old stuff, possibly a damp wipe down as it is water soluble. Some of the old 'plastic' glues were hopeless & just turn to dust after a few decades & resist attempts to re-glue. If you have a powdery stuff in the joints the major strength will be from the dowel pins, so use hardwood pins not pine. Even flour & water may have been used in the past as 'glue'

Finish is probably 'ammonia fuming' where the wood was placed in an enclosure suspended over industrial strength ammonia for several hours, the fumes produced reacting with the tannin in the oak to give it a quick couple of centuries of aging. For more info about the process you need to get to the library & look for books on 'Art & Crafts' furniture,, or do some on-line searching for 'Ammonia Fuming'.

I'm not up on A&C furniture maker's marks, some books with have pictures of the various Stickley Bros marks, but there were dozens of US based manufacturers and Australian makers are pretty much undocumented at all.

If done well you will of course increase the value of a disintergrating chair - a functional chair is worth more than a pile of firewood, but you are unlikely to make it a major art work worth thousands at auction, and you can't really value the family association with a grandparent. Keep as much original finish as possible and try for a 'sympathetic' resoration - don't send it to an industrial furiture stripper for a trip through the caustic bath.

[Antipodes]

Another voice saying hide glue or similar. The northern Europeans used to use fish glue and various music instrument manufacturers and restorers still use it. Essentially the same properties as hide glue but doesn't need the heating (see previous comment about shelf-life and preservatives).

That's a great looking Arts & Craft style piece and definitely in the manner of the Stickleys if not actually the real deal. You're in the US so the chances of it being Stickley are pretty good though obviously there were a lot of people copying the style at the time. Here in Australia you rarely see the real deal.

US Modernism magazine used to have a great sister publication called (I think) 1900 - I suspect it may be defunct now but google it and see if you can find them and maybe drop them a line. And there's an online forum for everything these days - I'm sure there's a bunch of Arts & Crafts/Art Nouveau/Jugendstil discussion sites out there on the interweb. The trick would be to find one with a US bent (wood pun only slightly intended) and check it (or get your neighbour to check) its possible history. It sounds like there's probably enough markings there for the overly-knowledgable to make an educated guess. You can also just drop Stickley themselves a line or take a look around their site - they're still manufacturing though wouldn't like to guess how true they are to the original techniques. http://www.stickley.com

But this is a great looking piece in a much sought after style (whether it's Stickley or not) and absolutely worth the effort - shame it's not actually yours.

[Antipodes]

Found an almost identical question on a US vintage furniture forum. might help.

http://www.myantiquefurniturecollect...264.html#15528

[Antipodes]

And found an even more focussed mob here....

Furniture Restoration - Forum