Some 20 years ago when my parents where downsizing into a retirement village our youngest daughter had dibs on mums rocking chair. It was partially dissembled for transport then put undercover outside, behind the garage to wait.....and wait....and wait restoration.

Roll on retirement and and a cleanup for mum’s chair to see daylight again. Oh dear, it had not fared well, one of the rockers had soaked up some moisture and dry rot was evident were it was sitting on the pavers and parts of the frame had suffered sun and weather damage and was discoloured, dried and cracked. My overall impression was that it had been made fairly cheaply and any timber in the seat and backrest was no better than scrap packing wood. At this point it was decided to be makeover rather than a restoration

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After sanding it was clear that staining would not give a good colour, so it was given some coats of black lacquer to cover past neglect for a consistent finish. The damaged rocker was cleaned out to good timber and layers of resin glue keyed in until just proud of the surface and sanded to match the curve of the opposite rocker. The collapsed foam was replaced with new quality foam and our daughter picked out some new cover material.

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I wasn’t happy with the location of the rocker springs and always thought that chair was at the wrong angle, evidenced in the 80’s when SWMBO sat down and immediately did a back somersault out of it. Shifting and realigning the springs 40mm forward fixed that so it is now run true and is more upright at rest. It is a bit on the small side and from research and the single spring on each rocker would indicate that it is a child’s rocker.