Restoring Victorian Platform Rocking Chair

Hi,

My father-in-law who is in his 80s has asked me to restore an old platform rocking chair inherited from his Grandmother. The chair is in pieces and any previous finish has been stripped down.

I would appreciate any advise on best way to restore this. I have include some photos of the chair.

Attachment 411423Attachment 411424

Links to some examples of this style of chair are American Antique Rocking Chair Victorian Antique Furniture and https://www.kenarry.com/antique-rock...r-restoration/

I would like to restore in a way that much of its patina (whatever is left) can be retained. Following are my thoughts on the process

Preparing:
1. Hand sand with 120 and then 240 grit sand paper including the tenon and mortises.
2. Bath spring joints in Evaporust / similar to remove rust.

Assembling:
1. Attach spring joints to the platform with countersunk screws
2. Join mortises and tenons using glue. This part worries me as currently chair is in pieces that means if even if there was any glue used previously it was not PVA. I can look into using hide glue. Any thoughts?

Finishing:
1. Apply several coats of Danish Oil by wiping it on and sanding with 0000 steel wool between applications

Upholstery:
1. Attach Jute upholstery webbing using tack nails for the base of seat and back.
2. Attach upholstery fabric to seat and back using studs

Thanks.

Hi,
Nice old chair. I had better start by saying I am no expert on restorations. I just have a couple of comments. I would go light on the sanding. Bits of it are back to bare wood already. I would avoid sanding the M&T joints. By all means gently scrape away any old glue but you dont want slack joints. Hide glue will melt when new hot hide glue is applied. It's the great thing about hide glue it can be heated/steamed to pull apart then put back together. If you cant get hide glue then a couple of packets of gelatin from the supermarket. Same stuff just more refined. Google will show plenty howtos for hide glue.
Not being any good at upholstery I can't really say a lot. Perhaps a woven rush seat and back as another option.
I know danish oil is not authentic but it's the way I would go for a home restoration.
Have fun with it. Should be a fine looking chair.
Regards
John

Careful with rust removal on spring steel. Do some research before you do anything. I think the issue may be microcracks, but the result can be scrap metal..

Russ

Quote:

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Originally Posted by saladonion

I would like to restore in a way that much of its patina (whatever is left) can be retained. Following are my thoughts on the process

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That is a great idea. but to do that avoid sanding:

"Preparing:
1. Hand sand with 120 and then 240 grit sand paper including the tenon and mortises."

No please don't sand at all unless absolutely necessary I can't see the details but 120 will remove any remaining patina. A gentle clean with a moist rag will remove any dirt - use some soapy water if necessary but be sure to dry well afterwards. It is Ok if the finish is a bit bumpy - that is patina. Sometimes a fine grade scotchbrite pad with the soapy water will remove more muck. Keep the immersion/wet-time as short as possible.

"2. Join mortises and tenons using glue. This part worries me as currently chair is in pieces that means if even if there was any glue used previously it was not PVA. I can look into using hide glue. Any thoughts?"

Hide glue in liquid form can be purchased from Carbatec - Titebond Liquid Hide Glue. I still have my glue-pot and pearls of hide glue but, for most restoration work I just pull out the Titebond product. It is easy to use and wonderfully reversible if you stuff up. Be warned, it is slippery stuff so once applied even previously tight joints are loose and can move (this is true of many other adhesives of course) so make sure your clamping and holding systems are set-up and ready to go before applying it. As stated above by Orraloon the new hide glue bonds well with the old glue (nothing else will). Clean up excess and overflow with a rag moistened in hot water - easy peasy, even when it has partially set.

"Finishing:
1. Apply several coats of Danish Oil by wiping it on and sanding with 0000 steel wool between applications"

Please do not use Danish oil, that is not an appropriate finish for an antique. I am not expert on these chairs (so anyone who is please speak up) but for that period the most likely finish would have been a shellac coat. Once cleaned, dry and reassembled with hide glue you can purchase some ready-made shellac solution, dilute it well with metho and simply brush it on with a very fine brush. Rub back frequently with 0000 steel wool. Finish with a good quality high Carnauba wax content furniture wax (the UBeaut product works well I find), buff and stand back to admire.

BTW bees wax is a dud for this purpose, it stays soft and sticky and attracts dirt.

Good luck. If I haven't answered a component of your post it is most likely because I do not know the answer!
David

Thank you John, Russ and David.

I will clean with wet rag / scotchbrite and stay away from sanding.

I will do a dry assembly before gluing up. This way clamps are ready when gluing up and I know exactly which stages to do glueup. Will source Titebond Liquid hide glue, seems easiest option.

Re rust removal, I will do further research. Sanding is an option there but was not sure if I can get all areas.

Re Shellac, I was thinking of getting Shellac flakes and Metho from Carbatech and making my own. Are there any recommendations on which Shellac?

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Making you own shellac from flakes is pretty easy. Be aware that the experts say it doesn't last forever once made up so don't go overboard with the quantities. I don't use flakes so can't give advice but I'm sure there will be plenty on the web and probably with the flakes themselves. There are different colours of shellac so it is a good idea to decide what you want it to look like before you purchase. Personally, I do not like orange flake shellac - too orange for me, and I prefer to use brown button shellac, which is what would have been used originally. The last lot of brown button I purchased was from Shines shellac supplies (02 8003 9876, shines.com.au) but that was a few years ago (it lasts forever in the button form). UBeaut products (Geelong) have a range of shellac and also produce a very informative manual on polishing (see the forums home page). Their white shellac is virtually colourless if you do not want to darken the colour of the timber.

This looks like a very interesting project.

Pulling up a chair(unintention pun) to watch the process.

Just an update on the progress. Due to time constraints and other distractions this has taken me a while. Overall it was a good learning process.

I cleaned up the chair with a wet rag. Sourced some brown button Shellac, Metho and Titebond hide glue. These photos are
a) Chair after clean up
Attachment 426658


b) Some dowels / tenons expanded given the chair was sitting in parts for 40 odd years and some fine tuning with a rasp was required
Attachment 426659

c) 2 lb cut of Brown button Shellac in progress. Interesting to see how this works.
Attachment 426660


Chair then was glued up with Titebond hide glue. Photo below after three coats of Shellac and sanding with 0000 steel wool in between.
Attachment 426661


2 more coats of Shellac diluted to 1 lb were applied (5 in total). Lightly sanded with Scotch bride and steel wool in between. At this point, I was quite happy with the Shellac build up and started upholstery webbing. Photo below is with seat webbing finished.
Attachment 426662

looking good there.

Steel wool not so good. For explanation look here: https://www.woodworkforums.com/f173/170yr-sideboard-218693

Interesting. Didn't know this. Hope my clean up after sanding removed most of residue.

The project is looking wonderful. Well done!

The issue with steel wool is primarily with raw timber (or partially sealed very open pored timber). Steel fibres stuck in timber will rust, of course (we all know that steel rusts so why would anyone use it on raw timber). Since you have sealed well with shellac - and a really good waxy shellac at that - it is very unlikely that you will have any issues. I usually rub back with 1000 grit wet and dry for new work (uses a lot as it clogs easily - but the result is worth it) but use 0000 for cleaning previously polished work or new coats on worn/damaged old work. I have never had a problem.

You will see a lot about dewaxed shellac. Yes, removing the wax can give a wonderful hard shine, if that is what you want. But brown button shellac - the relatively raw product, has a lot of wax in it. In my book that is great because the wax helps to fill the pores and also helps to give a great bond to that final wax finish.

It took a while to get this chair fully restored. Number of projects and a house move got in the way. Finally, managed to finish the chair just in time for Christmas festivities.

Thanks for all the good advice! Here are couple of photos.

Attachment 451311

Attachment 451313