Welcome to my blog which follows my furniture restoration business. Please feel free to comment at the bottom of the post, and if you would like a response please leave your email address. you can also contact me directly at info@johnmarkpower.com. And by all means, if you like something please feel free to share it.
Showing posts with label Windsor Chairs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Windsor Chairs. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Some Recently Completed Pieces

19th Century English Cherry Dressing Table
I have developed a bit of a backlog of photos of completed work over the past couple of months. In an effort to catch up I am showcasing some of the more interesting pieces that have come through the shop recently. Below I will describe the pieces and the work we did to them.

1. English Lath Back Windsor Chair
 This was one of my favorite chairs to ever come through the shop. It is a Lath Back Windsor made from various woods including beech and elm. It was made sometime in the middle of the 19th century. 

These chairs are great, they have great form and are very comfortable. This one had loosened up so I glued the loose joinery. The wear on the chair was wonderful, especially on the arms, so we simply cleaned and waxed the finish.

2. Four Ladderback Chairs
 
These chairs are pretty run of the mill, and were probably made around 50 years ago. I chose these to showcase the great job my caner did on the rush seats! Beyond the seats, I glued the loose joinery, and cleaned and waxed the finish.

3. Parquet Table with Draw Leaves
I have written about draw leaf table before on this blog. All of the examples that come through the shop seem to be from the early part of the 20th century. This one was made form European walnut and beech. It had a French country style, and was probably made in France or possibly another country on the European continent. This table was in pretty rough shape, so we removed the finish and refinished it with a French Polish finish.
  


 4. Walnut Breadboard End Table 
This table came from Switzerland and was made from old boards of European walnut. That being said, it was made fairly recently. I liked this table a lot because it reminded me of the first dining table I made, which was also of walnut. The finish was in bad shape, so we refinished this with a French Polish finish.
 


 5. English Cherry Dressing Table
This was a sweet little table, made from European cherry in the early part of the 19th century. Despite the cabinetmakers attempts to use good straight grained wood, the back legs had warped severely! Because it was stable and there is no real way to fix this, I left them as is. This piece was refinished with a French Polish finish.


6. Walnut Drop Leaf Table
This table had some beautiful walnut veneer, as seen in the photo below. It was made in the 1930s and I refinished it with a French Polish and found a new walnut knob for the drawer.


7. Reproduction John Shaw Four Drawer Chest
This chest was a lovely reproduction of  a chest made by John Shaw (1745- 1829), a cabinet maker from Annapolis, Maryland. The reproduction was made by Biggs Furniture of Richmond, Virginia. The chest, like the original, had beautiful crotch mahogany on the drawer fronts. Quite a lovely piece, reproduction or not!

8. Mahogany Display Stand
 
This stand had a lot of work put into it. The top was edged with inlayed banding, some of which was missing and we had to recreate. We also glued the loose joinery, replaced some of the glass, covered the bottom with felt, and refinished the entire case.
  

 


 
I am sure I have more photos like these so I will probably be putting together another post soon of pieces that were recently restored.

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Two Caned Sack Back Windsor Chairs (20th Century)

I recently completed the restoration of two sack back Windsor armchairs. The chairs were made of Birch and were probably made sometime in the 20th century, or perhaps late in the 19th. One of the chairs had a hole in the cane seat and they were both loose and the finish needed some help. The customer and I decided to cane both chairs so they would match, but also so I could repair the loose and broken joinery. Below are a few photo of the work. Many thanks to Chris Frear for the beautiful job on the caning. She always does a great job!!

This first photo shows the chairs as they came to me. The next photo shows the chairs with the cane removed.

This photo shows one of the chairs disassembled.
Here I am gluing the joinery on one of the seat frames.
These next three photos show both chairs being glued.


This photo shows the restored chairs ready to go to the caner.
These last three photos show the completed work. The cane will darken over time as the cane oxidizes.