tic toc here is the finished clock

It been so so long, I know you have been waiting to see what happened to that clock! Well here it is! Enjoy.. Goto my last blog to see the "before" pictures

At the end of the day we had a beautifully restored and perfectly working Victorian clock!

Antiques Guy Gone Wild

Happy 4th O’ July! Woo Hoo! Sorry for the false advert title.
I wanted to pop in for a bit and do a little writing, point out some changes to my blog., as well as, talk about a piece I picked up this week.

On the right I added some picture badges. These badges will feature pictures of pieces I have restored, I’m selling and some of the funky stuff around my shop. If you click on them, you can go to my flickr page and see every thing up close. The flickr page is probably the best place to see current pieces for sale as my web site doesn’t get updated to often… go figure.
Here is a great little piece for the week. It’s a sweet little Rosewood Empire Mantel clock. We will be doing the full Monty on this one. Right now I am in the process of chasing down an estimate for the clock repair. My old clock guy was a retired guy, that now has really retired.

It so funny how many of my sub contractors are retired folk that have found pleasure in odd furniture repair stuff. Bill P. the caner/rusher, Mr. Lynch the clock fixer and Mr. Lee the veneer repair/Carver-guy. Its really a cast of characters around the shop, not to mention the random folks that drop by to chew the fat. I really dig all the great old random stories.

So here are a few pictures of the clock to be restored. It should be a relatively easy job. All it needs is a minor veneer repair and then refinishing. Hopefully the clock isn’t to far gone and can be repaired.

On that last note, “The Cast Characters”, I was at a customers the other day, the custies were both telling me how I need my own antique restoration show. They said, they thought I would be perfect so please tell anyone you know the produces at the discovery channel or on one of those home improvement channels. It would be great to harass Martha Stewart every now & again. Come on, a 37 year old tattooed antique guy… It would be perfect. I even come with my own natural eccentricities. I don’t have to make anything up. I’ve even heard it’s pretty entertaining to watch me reprimand my poor little helper. So have your people contact my people, well I don’t have people, so contact me.

Happy 4th,
Chairman

The Chairman Update

Howdy kids !
Yep it’s the Chairman, guy , dude. I am back for what I am hoping this will be a semi long haul!
Things have changed since I last Blogged baby..
I will Give you a quick Hits list !!

1) Meyersville developer update, It appears the developer has backed off for now. We believe he is waiting for the dust to settle (people to forget), as well as waiting for the Master plan changes to see if it will benefit him.
I started a low key campaign to create a park on two properties that are for sale, but have not been purchased by the developer. The park is a great idea the rub is trying to get the town to buy it. I will update the blog about this as wee move on..

2) The biggest news ! On 4/27/07 The Chairman got hitched .. He was married in Maryland, at The Gramercy Mansion . The Gramercy had wonderful Antique all around the building. It was the perfect night, everything went off without a hitch. We headed to Costa Rica for the honey moon that was incredible, if you haven’t been you need to go !










3) Work since the wedding has been insane I need to update picture & information. I will hopfully get this all done this week. I have some really great pieces to be restored in the shop. If you go to the feeds on the right of this page you can go to my Flickr account for Wedding, Costa Rica and work pictures.

Chairman & Bride in Costa Rica!








That's a quickly update.. Check out my website http://www.chairmanrestoration.com/ ALso the photos on the right.

Cheers
Chairguy.

The Chairman Returns !

Howdy All !
I am still here & I do care.. I will have a blog update soon. Life has been crazy, getting married , work & life..


Please check my photo page on flickr (links on the right). You can see my next how-to with Rob & his butcher block top table on the right.




Today I am off to a chamber of commerce meeting (laughing) Yes, I am a chamber member someone has got to keep these people in check.

Please check out my updated website !
http://www.chairmanrestoration.com

Danish Modern, Mid century Modern Oh My ! Restored !

This weeks Piece !!Here is a nice & quick Job for the terminally hip, fatally cool crowd. I will delve into the wonderful world of Danish Modern furniture. No it’s not just about Chairs & Antiques with the chairman. Mid century modern stuff comes though the shop all the time ! I love the clean lines & working with teak.

Just a quick disclaimer: This job will require a good respirator & needs to be done in a well ventilated area. I will not be held responsible for the brain cells you will lose if you don't use a respirator & follow all the manufactures detail instructions on the finish you use.

Sweet now that, that's over.. here it is !

It's a very funky & unusual Danish modern Umbrella stand. I had never seen one before this. (It is for sale in my shop) Best of all I got it from the side of the road !

First, I like to clean the piece with denatured Alcohol & extra fine steel wool (0000) This will clean all the built up grime that's on your piece. Make sure your wearing your respirator while doing this.. After you've cleaned the piece, dry it with a paper towel.

After it has dried I take 320 grit wet/dry sand paper & sand the pieces down. You’re looking to do a little more then scuff the finish. This will help get rid of the rest of the grim & prep the old finish for re-oiling. Now wipe all that dust off with a paper towel dampened with denatured alcohol.

Now that its prepped, let’s get to oiling ! For this piece I went with teak oil, it’s easy to use & the finish builds up quickly. I did a karate kid style process, Rag on rag off grass hopper.. Soak your rag & apply your oil (wearing your mask) Covering all the wood lightly making sure everything is damp. Let the oil soak in for about thirty minutes , then wipe the excess off with a paper towel. Pop your next coat on in about an hour following the same process.

I went with just two coats of oil on the umbrella stand. I let it dry for about 10hrs or overnight. Then as a finishing touch I added a coat of butchers wax, that will give the finish a little extra protection.

So while I waited for the wood to dry I cleaned the metal holder & repainted the inside. So all said & done here is the finished product !
If you have any question just shoot me an email chairguy5@gmail.com !

The Chairmans Project of the week.. Inlaid Settee re-glued baby

Here it is, the piece of the week !

I figured since I am the Chairman why not start with a Chair for my first Blog project piece.. So we picked this up from a customer a few weeks back. Its a swell 1920's inlaided Settee. These pieces are always interesting to work on.(note interesting really means pain in the butt)

I am going to cover some of what was done to it today.. As you can see it came to us with its original plastic seat cover. Its so funny that folks really do use these things.. I thought about ebaying it(plastic cover), but then decided to toss it.

Anyway, this will be a complete restoration job, repair, re-glue & then have the Upholsterer re-spring it & add the new fabric.

The first part of the process is to do the repair. What I do believe is if your going to do it , DO IT RIGHT. By doing it right, I mean you need to start by re gluing, No not with gorilla glue, no Sheetrock screws or nails, just good old fashion brown glue a few good clamps.

As you can see we removed all the fabric first one of the biggest chores. Can you say 8 billion tacks, this is were your umpa lumpa comes in handy or first mate tell him/it or her to do it. Its really important to do this if your reupholstering the piece. This may be the last time you can re-glue the structure correctly for many years. If you don't you'll end up with a beautiful, yet wobbly piece of furniture..

Here is how I like to do it..

We disassemble the whole piece. Yep take it apart, if its an old piece it should come apart pretty easy. You'll need a nice soft/rubber mallet to help loosen those old joints & maybe a vise with a little leather in its jaws. Also watch out for nails & screw from any 1/2 done repairs from the past, nothing like blowing a joint up cause some clown put a nail in it. The only way to reapir a joint in anything is to glue & clamp it ! Nails & screws are a short term fix.



After I take it apart, I like to scrape off all the old glue make sure the holes & dowels are pretty clean. An old chunk of glue in a dowel hole could jam you up later. Also I like to put a little slot in the old dowels. The new glue will create an air pocket inside the joint that could damage the joint or make really hard to clamp it later.


So its time to glue ! "the home stretch", this is good cause ,I am already gettting bored. So this is the fun part wooo whoo ! Grab your plumbers brush & cup of your glue of choice & start gluing ! Make sure you get glue on both parts of the joint. Not to little & not to much.

After you have applied glue to each joint its time to reassemble it. Pop it back together looking for a loose fit. You will have glue dripping everywhere, no worries more will come when it gets clamped. Have a paper towel & water handy.

Clamping I like to start with the sides.. Pop one on either side & slowly start to tighten them , Go from side to side, closing those gaps evenly. Take your time & make sure every thing is even. If its not you could end up with a cockeyed chair.

So below you will see the clamped piece, "frankensteined" On this piece we used 7 clamps everything went back together perfectly, we added the corner blocks back in & put it on a level floor. The clamps will come off in about 10 hrs or so.

Clamped & ready

So that's part 1 Of my inlaid chair saga, man this blogging crap can be a pain in my ass. The picture adding & writing is crazy, I need to get away from the puter & get into my shop where I know its safe. If you have any questions please post them or shoot me an email chairguy5@gmail.com

~Chairman