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.

COLD!!!

Did a little caning in the garage last night. Boy! Were my hands cold! Managed to get the 1st vertical and horizontal row done and more than half of the first diagonal.
It's taken me 2 days to prepare this little open weave seat (because of gluing time.) First the back hole row had split and needed to be glued and clamped together. Then the left front holes over the left leg were blocked by the leg. Getting the frame over the leg tenon split the front rail of the frame so that had to be removed and re-glued. After re-assembly the holes were still blocked so I had to re-drill them. Then it was ready for cane. The re-drilled holes are going to be tricky as I didn't want to damage the leg that was blocking them, so they are a little undersized. They may end up as blind holes. Pictures to follow.

Aerosmith

In the immortal words of Steven Tyler "I'm back in the saddle again!"

This weekend I was able to finish a press seat and a small open weave seat in medium cane. Just a small rush seat to finish and all my guilt work will be out of the way. I think the extra wide press is a tad unattractive, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder.