Thread: Newbee needs help to restore some lovely old chairs

Originally Posted by Girlatsea

Hello! Really hoping someone out there will be able to give me some advice to set me on the right track with my project, as my attempts to research the answer on the internet have drawn a blank so far.
I'm very glad to have discovered this forum and the font of knowledge that you guys have!

I bought 8 old chairs on ebay recently. I'd really like to be able to have them ready for Christmas Day, when we'll be hosting the first family Christmas in 12 years!

photo-6 copy 3.jpgphoto-6 copy.jpgphoto-6 copy 2.jpg

The seller told me they were blackwood and had belonged to her elderly mother for many years, but she didn't know how old they were. I can't tell if they are blackwood or not, but they seem to be sort of Queen Anne-ish style. Four of the chairs (like the one on the right with the red seat) are quite beautiful I think, with a beautifully curved back and nicely shaped legs. The other 4 (see chair on left, with brown seat) are inferior copies of this, I think, and the timber is a lighter colour.

In general the chairs are in fairly good nick, but the surface is a bit tired - quite dull, with some minor scuffs and scratches. The square seat with the upholstery just pop out, so it should be quite easy to re-cover the seats.

My question is: how should I approach the timber? I'd like to retain their vintage character and have them still feel old and well-used (definitely not all shiny and gleaming).

What I've learned from googling so far is that the first step is to work out what the finish is, and this will determine what approach to use. Well, I've not had much luck with this first step so far! I tried a bit of metho on the surface, and it kind of came up a brown colour on the rag (see photo) but there was no appreciable difference on the timber surface (there was no point taking a photo of this because you would not be able to see where I'd rubbed!)

So I'm not sure what this means! It would be great to know what kind of product I should use on it.

Also if anyone can tell what kind of age these chairs might be, or whether they are indeed blackwood, that would be very interesting

Let me know if more photos would be useful! So excited about hearing back from you all! Any advice much appreciated.

looks to me like the finish could be shellac or something, either way, i'd take to the lighter ones with fine sandpaper or wet and dry and metho, stop before you get back to truly bare wood, then stain them to match the other chairs, and put a couple of coats of new shellac on, followed up with a gentle rub back with fine steel wool, and then 2 to 4 coats of wax

Originally Posted by fudo133

looks to me like the finish could be shellac or something, either way, i'd take to the lighter ones with fine sandpaper or wet and dry and metho, stop before you get back to truly bare wood, then stain them to match the other chairs, and put a couple of coats of new shellac on, followed up with a gentle rub back with fine steel wool, and then 2 to 4 coats of wax

Thank you fudo133, I really appreciate your advice. Sorry for my ignorance but does this mean that the colour of the chairs is down to the colour of the original shellac?

I'm actually not worried about getting the 2 sets of chairs to the same colour (I figure that since the styles will still be slightly different I might as well keep them different in colour too) - so can I skip the stain part?

And what kind of finish will this give me if I do a few coats of new shellac and then wax? Will it look 'like new' or will it retain its current character?

Thanks so much again

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Originally Posted by Girlatsea

Thank you fudo133, I really appreciate your advice. Sorry for my ignorance but does this mean that the colour of the chairs is down to the colour of the original shellac?

I'm actually not worried about getting the 2 sets of chairs to the same colour (I figure that since the styles will still be slightly different I might as well keep them different in colour too) - so can I skip the stain part?

And what kind of finish will this give me if I do a few coats of new shellac and then wax? Will it look 'like new' or will it retain its current character?

Thanks so much again

it is a little bit, or at least the original colour will be influenced by the colour of the shellac used. If you're not fussed about changing the colour of the chairs though i'd skip taking too much of the current finish off and instead go straight to a coat of dark wax rubbed on (softly) with 0000 grade fine steel wool, which once buffed out should give you a glossy satin sheen and should also make the current colour a little darker and generally richer.
Sometimes a coat of wax and a buff is all a finish needs to come back