Wakefield Wishbone Table and Chairs

I just finished these up last week. Hadn't been able to post here cause I've been a little busy. I've got some other pieces I've finished that turned out really nice, but I thought I would post these up first.

This is a great Heywood Wakefield dining set. These are often referred to as 'dogbone' chairs. The table with the two leaves seats 6, very comfortably. The table is also commonly referred to as the 'whalebone' or 'wishbone' or also the 'butterfly'. The most common I hear is the 'wishbone'.

There were 6 of these chairs, some strays from different families and with different finishes and bad refinishes, so it took a little bit of work to get them where they needed to be, but I think they turned out really nice. I can't wait to see them when the upholstery is done.






The table had been refinished wrong as well (way too dark) (I failed to take 'before' pictures of this although here is an example of how dark it started out...)

.....so it took a little work to get that out of the grain, but I really love the way this maple glows when you finally get it right. I always loved the design of the legs on these and the way the little 'rutters' or 'fins' flip in and out to hold up the end leaves on the table.


This can be used without the two leaves as a drop leaf table as well, to save on space, but when you have family or friends over for dinner, you can break out the leaves and it will give everyone plenty of elbow room.


It is always rewarding to bring one of these back up to it's proper state. I will post more pictures of the chairs (and hopefully table in it's natural habitat) once the upholstery is done.