Seatmore Table and Chairs

A little while back I had a client come in that brought me these chairs and table. I think at one time these were manufactured to go in all sorts of soda shops around the country. Apparently these are attributed to FRANK RIEDER & SONS, PHILADEPHIA, PA.  I have had great success at restoring latex covered pieces in the past and they are difficult to say the very least. This one was no exception to the rule. I also had some pretty extensive glue ups and repairs to do to them after I removed all of the latex as well as repairs to the joinery on the table. I also had to re-make several pieces and luckily I had some of the long leaf pine just laying about the shop. (there were chairs her from two different sets, long leaf pine and quarter sawn oak. I don't know why anyone would ever cover these up...)Here is what the set looked like when it came in....

And here,  I will just include some detailed pictures with brief descriptions of all of the repairs...

Table, Pre-Stripping..Repair leg to Apron and Tongue and Groove on Top 






Single Chair. Dis-assembly for Repair





Top Rail Pre-Repair








Top Rail Removed for Repair






Chair Rung Replacement Comparison







One Rung Replaced (Bridle Joint)





All Rungs and Dowels in Place





Second Chair Rung Replacement








Glue Up 



As you can see, there were some pretty extensive repairs and most of the joints had to be re-glued and lots of them re-made. It took a while before I could even get to the sanding and finishing part, which was in itself pretty intensive. 

In the process, there are many things that you need to avoid stripping/sanding and so, unlike what many people think, it's not just dipping it (which I never do) or sanding off the finish (a total no-no in my book, ever) and just painting on some stripper. In this process, I ALWAYS like to save any label or marking that is original to the piece if at all possible and I have many different methods of doing this. In this search for better ways to preserve them, and preserving the furniture in general, I have taken it upon myself to do more research, usually just out of curiosity, on the pieces and origins of the furniture...I have decided, since I take so many pictures in the first place (not always, but usually), to offer this as sort of an extra service to those that want it. I like to inform people about their furniture if I can. I have decided to offer a sort of pictoral history of the repairs and whenever possible historical data or links about the origins of the furniture in question. That being said, I sort of offered that up on these and was able to save what was left of the labels on them. Here are a couple of pics and a couple of pics of the finished pieces. 









Stained and Oiled





Stained and Oiled

(the one oddball quarter sawn oak chair. Not an original part of this set, but I thought it was really great nonetheless.)





Finished Table Top (w/o Marble Top)



I see on the label the patent date says 1920,then there is another date beside that, says 1924. I don't know if that is a second patent date, or a manufacture date. I would guess that they are early 20's though, judging by my research, very possibly the 1924 date is the manufacture date. I thought they were very interesting though. Not my typical mid-century style restoration, but I do a lot of older stuff as well and thought this one was a pretty nice set and worthy of a mention.  Hope you did too. 

Handcrafted Modern

Thanks to my wonderful wife, this is finally built and functioning. Been working on this project for a while now.

Handcrafted Modern Furniture

Before and After

I normally don't post all of my reviews but, since the frequency of my posting has suffered a little as of late, I wanted to add this link to Lindsey Allen's review from the 'Better After' blog.... Really nice review. I'll be posting more soon, just working on finalizing some pics for the next one. Thanks for reading anyhow. Here's a link to Lindsey's review...Before and After's
-And, just to keep with the theme, here's a before and after, just for kicks....(this was my Great Grandmother's, Grandmother's, and now my Mother's... part of a whole set ((Luce Furniture Co. from 1920))...More on this later, putting together this post now, so this is just a taste..)

BEFORE 

 AFTER

Gilbert Rhode Museum Restoration

This piece I felt was worth a posting.....(I know I rarely post nowadays, by the way, this has been said way too many times, by way too many people, but I'm saying it again. Sorry. This job and twins keep me pretty busy. )

  As well as loving and restoring MCM pieces,  I love when Art Deco and MCM get together and create something...That being said, this is one fine example of that trend , Designed by Gilbert Rhode  (even though he is known as one of the founders of the Modernist movement) for Herman Miller in 1933. It seems  he was very ahead of its time.

  I am also restoring several other pieces from this same series (an Upright bar cabinet and tea cart), as well as a maple barrel chair designed by him. I will also post some pics of these as they are completed. For now, we'll focus on the credenza..

  This one was not in very rough shape, but definitely in need of some restoration. I am giving a little glimpse here into the process (hopefully not to give everyone 'tired head'), just so you can see how extensive the refinishing process (especially with a two tone) is on some of these pieces.

In the first picture we have it dis-assembled somewhat and ready to go on the stripping table, the second is stripped, sanded and just about completely prepped for the spray booth sans a few minor scratches and chips to be raised and filled...

And, once we finally get it into the paint booth, here are some of the pictures of the process for the two tone... I have to tape off one section to add the darker color (for the burl), then put a coat of clear 

(I just say 'clear' because its more of a 'generic' term. I have spent many years developing this combination of finishes and I can't reveal it all here.)

 so the color won't bleed through the tape when I reverse tape it to do the other color, then, reverse tape it (after I have sanded and refined the lines of any bleed), stain that 

(this staining is a specific system  also I have developed that doesn't mask the grain of the wood, but just adds enough color to bring it up to the natural aged color for that wood/finish) and blend it ,, let it dry and finish it out ...

 (also, another long process...don't want to give everything away here)

I will say that, like Sam Maloof's finish (not the same but similar in many respects), I use a combination of an oil and lacquer for the clear coating which really brings out the beauty of the grain and breathes like a traditional furniture finish should, so it won't crack and peel, like a plasticized finish will. Anyway, here are a few pics....

taped off to stain burl 

stained

Drawers Stained and oiled, both colors 

Cabinet stained and oiled both colors

We normally dis-assemble cabinets somewhat to have more of a uniform finish (ie: handles, glass, doors, drawers out and sometimes the back removed if the inside is to be done) and this was definitely no exception, especially since it was being readied for  a museum. (I am not privelaged to know which museum yet, unfortunately, but excited about the prospect, nonetheless)

Here are some pictures of the inside...The drawers and doors were done inside and out as well as all of the accessory drawers. I love the way the drawer slides encompass the whole height of the drawer and instead of just one top drawer with a couple of trays, you also get a whole bank of drawers to house different utensils. Very cool. 

Cabinet finished and re-assembled without handles

And finally, the finishing touch. Here is is all assembled with the handles and the base all cleaned up and mounted. 

Furniture from afar

Well, I haven't had much time to blog lately. Been overwhelmed a bit by life in general and having two beautiful girls to help take care of. Your priorities change a bit. I wanted to add this to my story line though...
I have had furniture/clients come to me from all over Texas, Oklahoma and have regular clients in Austin, Waco especially. These people came to me all the way from Wellington Texas, which is in the Texas Panhandle (very close to Amarillo, where I spent some time as a kid)...I was really happy that they felt it was worth coming all that way to have me restore their newly inherited furniture. They were very nice people and super easy to deal with. I sent them pics along the way of the restoration process and tried to keep them well informed on the whole process.
There was literally a whole truckload (17' truck) of furniture when it was all said and done.
Two Gibbings love seats, one long Gibbings couch, a large and a small Gibbings coffee table, a china cabinet with a hutch, a dining table and a rocking chair in need of a refinishing and arm repair...When it was done, they couldn't have been more happier with the finished pieces. We helped them pack up and sent them back on their way home, hoping that everything made it safely. Well, soon after they got home. Katy sent me this picture and a nice note.

And here are a few pictures of the furniture in the works....

Small Gibbings Coffee Table Before Restoration

Gibbings Coffee Table Before restoration

Gibbings Love Seat Stretcher Repair

Two Gibbings Love Seats ready for the booth

Sanding and Prepping the large Gibbings Couch

Two Gibbings Tables in the Booth, one stained, ready to be finished

Dining Table with Lazy Susan Completed

Hutch Completed

China Cabinet with Hutch Competed

Gibbings Walnut Coffee Table Completed

It's dealings like this that make it all worth it. It's also nice to know that this stuff goes to a good home. What a pleasure. Thanks Charlie and Katy.

Paul Evans Cityscape Coffee Table

Finished Piece

This is a Paul Evans Cityscape coffee table I received from a client in the Fort Worth area who was planning to take it to show it in the 48th annual Dolly Johnson Antique & Art Show. It was also to be featured in 360 West magazine, which I thought was pretty neat.
This was when I had first moved into my new shop here by the levy..The piece was in really rough shape. I've done several of these Paul Evans pieces and have had great success with them. I really like the olive burl veneer and some of their designs are really great, even though some are a little over the top, it's got a certain deco quality about it as well as having the sleekness of a modern design.

One thing I love especially about this, is not necessarily even the design, but the philosophy behind the design and production of it, which is exactly the type of thing we are going to be trying to do here in the very near future (it is called Hand Crafted Modern, for those of you interested and we will be making prototypes and refining designs for a few lines of furniture this fall).... Their philosophy is basically the same as ours...Every piece should have the same amount of lovingly designed and hand crafted and finished care as the last one or the one after it. This way, you have nothing but truly one of a kind pieces of custom furniture even if they are from the same basic design, each one is different and cared for throughout the whole creative process.
(from Wikipedia) The artist's relationship with Directional Furniture set a unique standard for creative manufacture by insisting every piece is made by hand, finished by hand, supervised by the artist at each step of production, one piece at a time.

I had been told it needed some pieces of veneer glued up, so I thought, o.k. , no problem, nothing I can't handle...Well, if you look at this piece closer (which is a series of boxes, connected to one another) , you begin to realize, that a few pieces of veneer turns into several dozen.

First glue/clamp ups

Alternate View

More Clamps Being Added

Another Alternate View


Clampscape

This set of boxes is veneered on every side by dozens of pieces of olive burl veneer and chrome plated steel. Most of the chrome was in decent shape, just needed a bit of polishing , but the olive burl veneer was peeling, splitting and torn from all sides. There were also a couple of dozen pieces of veneer missing that had to be measured , re-cut and re-applied (after the surface was scraped clean at the substrate). Towards the end of the glue ups, I started to realize that it was absolutely necessary to remove the piece of chrome on the end box hiding the first set of screws that held the last box to the one next to it, which would in turn reveal the next when it was removed. This way I would be able to glue up and clamp pieces that I couldn't otherwise get to and get an even finish all the way around, when I actually got to that point.
This one was definitely a challenge. I found the veneer I needed and it was a perfect match, once I applied to proper toner to it during the finishing process. I first carefully removed all of the failing veneer, scraped and cleaned the surface it was to be applied to (also marking every piece of veneer so as to know where it went back to) and re-applied and glued up everything I was able to get to before disassembling the boxes....

Once this was done, I marked, measured, cut and dry fit all of the veneer pieces that were actually missing and applied them as well. At this point I took apart the boxes and repeated the process with the other pieces I wasn't able to get to at first (in hindsight, it wouldn't have been a bad idea to disassemble the boxes first, but I was trying to avoid it for several reasons)... That all said and done ( which took several dozen hours) I was ready to begin the preparation for finishing....
We taped off all of the chrome, stripped it box by box and then let it dry, checked the tape and re-taped for sanding, got everything finish sanded, removed the tape and taped again for finishing....

FINALLY!! I was able to move it into the paint booth. I applied the toner I had mixed to match what would be the original aged patina of the olive burl and then applied the rest of the finish. I then re-assembled the boxes, did one last glue up as well as gluing back the piece of chrome I had removed ( the boxes had already been consecutively numbered on the bottom so I didn't actually have to re-mark them so they went back in the correct order) and cleaned it up as well somewhere there polishing the chrome. Unfortunately, my name didn't get mentioned in the article for the restoration, but here is the final piece and the article it was in. Pretty happy it made it in there, nonetheless.

360 Article

Some of My Finest Work Yet

(Although, we all know who did the work....I only stood by, or sat and held her hand and wished I could do something more, so I wouldn't pass out, nervous as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs, as they say) I tried to be steadfast and sturdy for my girls, but it was a little rocky. Now we have two more 'Hungry Texans' in the world.
This makes all of the work I do, just that much more worth the effort. So happy to have these girls in my life. I have been super busy the past few months preparing for the arrival of these two and now keeping them happy and healthy takes so much energy, I'm sure even single child parents understand this, but I would never trade it.
My muscles ache and my mind is reeling with sleep deprivation, I have trouble holding my head up, but I am more happy than I could have ever imagined. It IS all worth it. On August 21st, 2011, I was given two gifts and a great challenge... to be the best father and husband I could possibly be. Hopefully, somehow I can keep this up and measure up. It's funny how you find the strength to do something you feel so strongly about. Luckily, I can still get to the shop to do the work I need to do too, so I can keep my customers happy, bring home the bacon, and somehow find time to actually bring home the bacon and cook it, so my better half can focus more on her ten thousand things to do with being the best mother in the world and all. (which according to me, she is) Anyway, I'm rambling again. Anyway, if you'd like to see pics of them, you can go here,

To view photos of the twins click the link below:


http://www.baylorhealth.com/PhysiciansLocations/Dallas/VisitorsGuide/BaylorBabies/Pages

Select date:8:21
Select: Sylvia S.
Then check out my girls, Lula and Cora!!!


but this one is one of my favorites so far...