Three Completed Pieces

Below are some photos of the New England Maple side chair, the Victorian Walnut side chair, and the Queen Anne walnut sofa I have been working on completed. the first pictures of the chairs show the chair once the finish work was completed, and the later photos show the chairs back from the Caner.

Here is a photo of the New England Queen Anne side chair with the finish work completed. I maintained the existing finish and was able to clean and French Polish the chair.

Here are three photos of the chair completed with the new rush seat. A customer asked me recently what rush is, and the answer is that it is a name derived from "Bull Rush Cattail Leaves" which traditionally were collected in the fall from ponds and dried in a barn. To make the seat, the leaves were soaked for some time and then woven into a cord. There is now a man made rush made from paper which is made from the same process. What you see below is the real natural rush which is appropriate for period pieces.

Here is a photo of the Victorian side chair completed before going to the Caner. I fixed some mending plates which were oxidized to look old to the inside rim of the chair to prevent it from breaking again. this is also the original finish restored.Here is the chair back from the Caner. What is interesting about this chair is that the holes in the back of the seat are spaced closer than those in the front, the result is 1) an odd number of holes, and 2) that the seat has a fan effect which can be seen in the photo below.

Last but certainly not least is the Queen Anne sofa. the old upholstery was kept on this piece and all of the restoration concerned the framework of the legs. Once again, this is the existing finish restored.