I have six 1910 oak arts and crafts-era chairs that I started to refinish way back in California about 11 years ago. I’ve carted them with me everywhere from move to move, from state to state. Of course they got damaged along the way. I never got all the old finish off of them so other than some gluing of some loose pieces it is just a matter of getting the joints back tight and stripping and sanding the rest of the finish off of all the parts. It will be lots of work, that’s why I never finished them. There are 5 chairs and a matching arm chair for the head of the table but I’m only doing the two for now. I had taken off the old leather seats and stored them. Two of the seats may be OK to use the rest have the leather torn. When I do refinish the rest of the chairs, I’ll have to buy new leather. I think I’ll have to start a saving account for that.
In the meantime, we have never eaten at the dining room table because we have no chairs. It’s been over 10 years here that we have eaten our meals sitting on the couch using the coffee table. It seems natural now. But too many times I’ve eaten my meal watching TV and didn’t remember eating it when I looked down at my empty plate. Now that’s a gyp.
My husband wants to eat at the dining-room table and wanted at least 2 of the chairs finished now before I start any more projects so he brought down two of chairs from the garage attic that had the least amount of fixing to do. It will probably feel funny at first eating at the dining room table with no TV in the room. I’m thinking we’ll enjoy our meals a lot more looking at the food instead of the TV.
Today I was able to wrestle the chair’s center bottom rungs out of their holes. I sanded them and removed the old glue from the holes and tenon. I glued them and clamped them in place. On these two chairs that is the only gluing job I’ll have to do. Tomorrow starts the sanding.
I normally use garnet shellac on most of my furniture but I’m going to try something different this time. I’m going to use wood dye and then use Waterlox and try to match it with the dining room table.
Tags: dining room chairs, refinishing, Waterlox