Gothichome wrote:Phill, coils springs were patented in Briton in the 1830’s but were not widely used until the mid 1840’s in upholstery. In Britain, America, and for that matter every one else were using coil springs of some sort in their chairs. So we know your chair is no earlier than 1840
Thanks for that. Last night I was watching a good video where he was doing one from about 1850 and noted that he thought the springs had been added so perhaps that's a possibility but it certainly looks pretty original.
most of the pros still seem to use air staplers and not tacks. I thought tacks would be more original but the staples are faster and there is a theory that they go into old wood easier. I guess there are different schools of thought on that. he said that some upholstery like silk is difficult to lay down without it puckering up around the edges. I guess the staples grab more evenly. the staples are harder to remove.
on some they are full of hay or shreds of wood with some horsehair over it. If I can Ill keep as much as I can but I think I should probably change the webbing on both sides of the springs so that means taking the seat apart. the stuffing seems pretty intact on the seat so Im hoping to keep it if I can but it has to be taken apart to get to the webbing under the seat and over the springs.
im a bit caught with the idea of spending lots on the cloth because our cats do like to get their claws in there sometimes.
there is a tool to stretch the webbing , I think I can make one for the job. I've got a tack hammer, it has a magnetic head so I guess they would stick the tack to the hammer head then start it on their first hit, maybe with a wooden mallet. Ive yet to see anyone do it like that. They used to put the tacks in their mouth to dispense them and I guess got quite quick at it. I have a bunch of little boxes of assorted antique tacks but I dont think ill be dispensing them that way
I'll learn more before I delve in too much. Ive got a few others that need upholstery, 6 dining chairs that are about as old, they are heavily carved with porcelain wheels on the back legs. one armchainr from about the 30's where the springs want to come through and a pair of oak parlor chairs that have horsehair stuffing and leather seats that remove for upholstery. I've got new leather hides for the covers on those.
my kitchen has fir floors so I'm a bit concerned that if I use these chairs then they might leave dents and marks on the floor. evidently the existance of the porcelain wheels is an early way so they are 1800's as well.
This is all very green technology. It was quite a feat to be able to make the wood parts and cover the chairs without a lot of hard to get materials, really just the tacks, springs and upholstery, the rest could be sourced locally. no plastic garbage. they could be returned to the soil basically. we could probably take a lesson from that.
funny question but what part of the horse do they get this curly hair from ?
can I just vist a horse barn and ask for it or would I order special material?
it loooks like the wood shavings could be made by planing a narrow strip of wood with the grain , that would leave long strips about 1/8th or so wide that can be curled up and stuffed in. I think it perhaps outlasts hay which they also used.
I found one video where the guy just used the wood fiber and horsehair and he showed his techniques of caressing the stuff with a stick to get it distributed and locked into itself evenly. he called it mission style, maybe that was the chair.
there are a lot of good videos with many novice videos mixed in, I even saw Martha Stewart in there, maybe she learned it in jail ; -)
Ive also got a set of english kitchen chairs. two have arms two not. they have rush covers. they used to weave European bulrushes to make the seats. we have lots of bulrushes at our summer place but it seems even more tricky and I m not sure if they are the right sort. the problem is that in order to take them apart and clean all the glue joints the covers need to be redone as they cant' be removed and put back. there is a new material that looks sort of like twisted cardboard. I have one roll of it and sometimes this is used to replace the rush covers. easier to do that way.
I guess as long as its fun its worth doing, some of this just takes a huge amount of patience.