The Snelling chair

**Thumbthumper** · 20th October 2014, 10:12 AM

My new commission is a Douglas Snelling web chair. Probably mid 1950's.
It's pretty smashed up. Apparently the last person who sat on it was quite large and the chair gave up

There were a lot of breaks and splits. The joints were also very dry.
Please ignore the Bloodhound in the background

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Douglas B Snelling
Associates Sydney
Form
Function
Structure
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This is what the chair would have looked like. I'll purchase new webbing, patch the joints, glue up the splits, and re-polish.

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A couple of the problem joints. Looks like someone has pumped a heap of PVA into the joint in an attempt to stabilize it.

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First job was to remove the webbing and the legs.
Tools of the trade.

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It came apart very easily as the joints were so dry.
The frame is held together with plywood splines ans dowels.
Assessing the damage.

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Patching and shaping the damage.

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This chair shouldn't take too long. The finish seems to be shellac based as my rejuvenating shellac mix lifts it well.
I'll glue it together, clean it, polish it, and tack some new webbing on.

**Thumbthumper** · 25th October 2014, 12:33 PM

Time to put the chair back together.

Here's the glue-up steps.
I used hide glue for the repairs. The next restorer in 50 to 60 years will thank me

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**Thumbthumper** · 2nd December 2014, 07:27 PM

Does no one sell 50mm heavy duty herringbone cotton webbing?

I've been trying for weeks to get hold of some new webbing for this chair. Plenty of dead ends. A supplier in England couldn't ship it to me, and his associate in Perth is not very good at answering emails or his phone

. After a couple of sketchy emails from him, a quote never eventuated, and a transaction that could have taken a day or two failed after over a month.

I got the OK from the owner to use the original webbing. It was soaked in Napisan and washed. It came out fine, it's a bit worn and discoloured but it's still very sound.

Some progress shots on the re-webbing. I used upholstery pins and a staple gun. This is the way it was done when I received the chair.

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Here's the finished chair. Surprisingly comfortable.

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Thanks to all that had a look.

Cheers,
Stu

**burraboy** · 3rd December 2014, 05:17 AM

**hiroller** · 3rd December 2014, 11:16 PM

Nice job. The patina of the old webbing matches the rest of the chair.

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The Snelling chair

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