Restoration of a Mahogany Victorian Gents Chair

[auscab]

Though I would show some work I / we did in my Restoration / Cabinet Making Business a few years ago . We had jobs going through for years like this with all sorts of Antique pieces being brought in for repair . So much passed without taking pictures. I look back now at a record like this time and time again and get a kick out of it . Thought Id see if you like it . I grew up watching older tradesmen repair such work in Dads Antique business. I did my Cabinet Making Apprenticeship working under these older guys . They all eventually retired and I went into Making what people wanted in Antique styles . I still restore though and have both still going on in my workshop.

These Victorian gents chairs quite often show up worn out and loose in every joint . This was one of them . It belonged to some clients who inherited it ,and was one of their Mum's favorite arm chair in a farmhouse on some large property a long way from the city. It meant a lot to them .

I always like to think of three ways to fix a piece ,and like to visualize and go through the three ways in my head , then work out the hours and give three prices based one the quickest , shove it in auction price .
A medium , "We want to sit on it a few more years" price.
And, "We want it done right " price.
I find this is the best way of sorting out where people want to go with their pieces and results in me nearly always getting the sort of work they want done .

Rob

[auscab]

This is with upholstery removed. I Missed taking pictures before it was taken apart .
These chairs are all dowel jointed with hide glue . Everything that's loose has to come apart . What you find is some joints that will not come apart though, so they have to be tested to see if they have any movement . Ones where the faces and dowels are all rock solid get left that way unless they have to come apart to get to other joints.
Plenty of dowels are loose on both sides and come out . Where the dowels break the bit remaining in the hole must be removed . The important thing is to get back to the original hole . And not try drilling a new hole in the same place . Its pretty easy to drill down the center of the dowel and get close to the original dowel size without going past the out side of the original dowel . pour in some hot water , probably a few times with boiling water. Get a screw and use the thread to hook and pull out the remains of the original dowel once the glue softens. I had a nice sunny spot where I could rest the wet washed out pieces in the sun for a day or two after doing this . Or just let it sit in a box for a week out of the way .
This chair came all the way apart. What happens with the dowel joints after being sat on loose for a good fifty years or more is the joints have loosened up and been pressed sideways . A good gap filling epoxy glue is what I like to re glue with . Pigment stains can be mixed in as well if needed where its polished wood being repaired . We had the loose joints with this as well as some breaks that needed work.

Quite a bundle of sticks looking like this isn't it . Very interesting how they built these chairs as well . They had to leave bits on the curved parts to facilitate gluing the thing up . Cutting them off and shaping and carving or moulding after glue up . This makes for some tricky clamping methods to get the direction of pressure right in the re glue of the restoration job.

The other tool they had back then was an iron strap clamp , blacksmith made just for these Ladies and Gents chairs . Its needed for the Big D shaped seat rails which the legs are all jointed into .

Rob

[auscab]

We were lucky in that we have this. The Victorian Ladies and Gents Chair Clamp . It just does a perfect job of what it was designed for every time . With a huge amount of power if its needed, more than you need. You have to be careful not to implode the piece . We cut a shaped rail to suit the job. This is the clamp in use on another chair .

Rob

[auscab]

Gluing the chair back together. The two front legs were glued up first and left to dry . Next day The whole lot went back together. There is a few clamping techniques here . The strap clamp . Then quick action clamps , then webbing tied around and a stick twisting tight to bring things into line . The whole frame is also clamped down to the table to keep the seat frame level . and The strength of packaging tape is quite handy when needed. What I'm trying to achieve is the alignment of the polished pieces so minimal sanding and loss of original polish and colour happens . That's extra work that I don't want if I get it wrong . And keeping as much originality in the finish is the type of restoration I like . Its sometime very hard getting this alignment right and if you get the dowel holes wrong and miss the original hole like I was saying before It turns into a real mess. If that happens, angles change, the line of the chair goes out of whack and it wont look right from that point on . All flat reference points for re drilling new holes don't exist any more since the original maker cut and shaped these away after the new chair was glued up . So you never want to loose that original precious holes for each of those dowels on a chair like this !! I do the same for all dowel chair repairs even straight plain ones its the quickest easy way.

Rob

[bueller]

Loving this thread, awesome photos! Thanks so much for posting

[auscab]

So the frame is glued up . Glue blocks replaced if needed. The polish job which is French polish / shellac is given a light cut back and touch ups done . Then a light re polish over the whole cleaned original . The clients come in and choose a fabric or bring me enough on a roll and I go and see my Upholsterer with that . Two to three weeks later I go and pick it up and the Happy clients come and pick up their chair . Its nice and solid now with a fresh new cover that I liked as well . That doesn't always happen. That's OK though , its just a cover.

Rob

[auscab]

Loving this thread, awesome photos! Thanks so much for posting

No Probs . They are worth showing and it seems a pity just to let them sit on my computer and possibly disappear one day .
glad you like them .

Rob

[bueller]

Finished up beautifully! Love the green upholstery, it really works

[Luke Maddux]

Really great work. I'm sure they were happy and will get many more years of use out of the chair.

Ive always been very nervous about restoration work. I don't like the idea of someone ending up with less than what they started with because I made a mistake. The extent of my furniture repair has been gluing a tenon back into place.

Post more some time. I agree, it would be a shame to see the pics go to waste.

Cheers,
Luke

[auscab]

Thanks Luke .

[dai sensei]

Beautiful job .

It reminds me of why I don't do chairs

[auscab]

Beautiful job .

It reminds me of why I don't do chairs

Lol .. Thanks Neil.

[auscab]

Here is another similar type of chair being done .
Different owners and at a different time .

Rob.

[Lappa]

Great thread. Thanks for detailed write up and pictures.

[auscab]

Great thread. Thanks for detailed write up and pictures.

Thanks .