A Productive Weekend

I managed to rush both ladderbacks above and weave splints on the little stool on Saturday. I was also able to pull the cane and spline on one side of the back of a high backed dining room chair. Sunday morning was warm enough for me to put in cane and spline in the dining room chair. Now I have to match the stain of the remaining cane. I forgot to take pics of the high back. The owner has is. I must have put 5 coats of Antique Walnut Polyshade on it but it still wouldn't darken up to match. Grrr! At least the customer liked it.

It's Done!

Finally the biggest job I've taken on since the school closed the caning shop is finished. It consisted of 3 rush ladderbacks and 8 rocking chairs.

First the ladderbacks. The best thing I can say about them is that they are finished. They were ugly, so no pictures. The front of the seat was 18 inches and the back rung was 14 inches, nearly a 1/3 difference so the slope on the side rungs was horrible and the material wanted to slide to the back.

The good part of the job was the rocking chairs. There were 3 with just seats and Kimberly did all 3. One was woven into the seat (See the post "New Partner") and the other 2 were frames that had to be caned and then screwed into the chair frame. Luckily I was able to repair both frames and didn't have to make new ones from scratch as I usually do.

This rocker was different from all the others. I liked the design so I caned the seat and the back on this one.

Then there were the 4 Brumby rockers. These are made by the Brumby company from Atlanta. They epitomize the Southern Porch Rocker. Rosalyn Carter installed several on a porch in the White House during her husband's administration. The company made wagons for the Confederate Army during the War Between the States. When the war ended they had no customers for their wagons so they started making rocking chairs and they became a Southern icon.

Kim caned some of the seats and I caned all the backs. Though I say it myself the chairs look very good. After they are finished by the furniture refinisher who contracted with me to do them they will be beautiful!

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I went by the refinisher's shop to drop off some more chairs and the rockers were still there.


I love them!

One more rush seat

Another rush seat finished and shellacked!

New partner

My wife Kimberly finished her first herringbone seat. Actually she has finished another one since then. She didn't require much help, just a little help with some knots. Oh, and a rework of the first row of the weave on this one.

A long long time...

It took a very long time to finish these 3 chairs. 2 seats and 3 backs, with each at around a hundred holes. The one on the left is quite unusual. I hope I can find one like it one day. I'd love to have one!

Rainy Days and Sundays

It was raining too hard to work on the chicken coop so I got to cane this Sunday. Two fairly mundane pressed cane seats and this cute little child's rocker. It was missing the front rung so I clamped a board to the table saw and rotated a 3/4" dowel over the spinning blade to make the rough tenon, then finished it with a rasp. The diamond pattern came out quite well, I thought.

Now they are finished

It warmed up enough yesterday for me to put the side pieces back on the Hitchcock chairs. The pieces were quite badly damaged by over enthusiastic nailers, and they took quite a bit of repair. I replaced the original nails with panel nails which hold better and there is no need to put 15 nails in a side piece, which is what I found in one of them.

My Blog Roll

Mitchell Webster's blog

The Wicker Woman's blog

Progress

Before

 During

 After

I do still need to shellac the rush and replace the Hitchcock front, back and side pieces.

Metal Bar Stools

A friend brought me 2 of these. I've never done wicker. Anybody have an idea on what this pattern is and how to do it? I can see that the material is round reed and the pattern is a variation on the porch weave.

One man's junk is another man's treasure

Here it is in all its glory. If you look very carefully at the armrest on the right you can see where I glued the board back together. Once it's puttied, sanded and the finish is touched up it will be impossible to tell where the repairs were made, or that it was damaged at all. I think it was a great investment for $15.00!
I really do have to get better at taking "before" pictures as well as "after" pictures.

Sewing Rocker Part II

Just finished caning this refinished sewing rocker. I caned it in Fine 2.5mm chair cane.

Good strip job, and the polyurethane finish is a strong one. Interestingly enough my customer when she called asked if she had reached Seats by Scott. I need to ask her if she found me online. If so she may be my first online customer. All others have found me through word of mouth. She might have seen a flier I've posted at an antique store. I think it's a darling little chair.

1/31/13- Yes she found me with a Google search. I'm now officially getting work from the internet!

Yesterday my wife and I went to an estate sale. On the porch was a large rocker with a cane seat and back. It had a broken arm rest and a $30.00 price tag. The whole sale was 50% off by that time. The arm rest had split along a glue joint. 5 minute repair job.

So, for $15.00 I have a Rex Furniture Co. Brumby copy that's already been repaired and just needs a light sanding and a new finish coat. The seat will need to be re-caned in a couple of years. Picture to follow.

I've been busy

Finally the weather has cooperated so I can work in the driveway. Last weekend I managed to finish 5 chairs. 3 Pressed cane, the rush chair in front and finally my friend Bill's child's rocker. I'm so embarrassed that one tiny chair took so long! The rush chair is interesting to me. The seat on it is worth more than the chair. I think the seat is one of my best. The chair itself was completely square, but the finish is atrocious! you can see where duct tape was used to hold the old rush on it on the right side and the finish is almost non-existent on the rear posts. On the left rear the chair looks as if it was too close to a fireplace and got burned. I was impressed with how well put together the chair was.