Repair This!

If you like well preserved vernacular chairs, look away now and perhaps look instead at this recent post by Lost Art Press. The two chairs needing atteniton were bought in by one of our best clients, she is of the opinion that "young people today don't know you can actually repair things, they were going to throw these away". The reality is this pair of chairs is beyond a sensible repair. They look as if they've been used in a bar brawl and left outside to compost for a couple of years. Perhaps the thing that distrubs me the most is the fact they've been stripped. This process is nearly always very distructive and more often than not, ruins great vernacular furniture.

However, as it's for a valued client we'll give it a go. So far we've got broken legs and runners, star dowels driven in, worm holes, more worm holes, broken screws and joints destroyed by the dipping process. I refer to these kinds of jobs as "A-Team Repairs", in the sense that you give yourself a strict time limit, use basic methods and get the job done. As these chairs would be destined for the bin it's not practical to spend much time at all, it'll be interesting to see what results we get......cue the music!