Mahogany and Birch Rocking Chair (ca.1930)

Recently I restored a rocking chair made from Birch with Mahogany veneer in a few places. The rocker had a broken rocker as well as a host of other structural problems. It also was in need of reupholstering and refinishing. There was not much to find out about this chair in terms of its history, but judging by the style and the construction methods used, I would place it around 1930. It could easily have been made earlier or later.

Below is a photo of the rocker in the condition it was when it entered my shop. the rockers are laid across the seat.
The finish was entirely removed from the chair and the next step was to make the repairs. the next few photos show this.

Patching a missing portion on the back of one of the legs.
gluing down loose veneer on one the front seat stretcher.
As I stated earlier, one of the rockers was broken. This was mended by making two bridging patches that spanned the break. These were inlaid in the rocker on both sides sandwiching the break with new wood. Below is a photo of one of the bridging patches.
This next photo shows the stripped chair being glued up.
The chair sanded, glued, and ready for staining.

These next two photos show the chair after the stain was applied.

These photos show the chair after the finish was applied. The last photo shows the chair with the new upholstery in place. The customer wanted to choose and put the fabric on herself, so the upholsterer covered the upholstery with muslin which goes under the final fabric. The bottle under the rocker in the last photo was placed there to keep the rocker from shaking in the wind!