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.