How do I fix a wobbly leg?

You have to knock the joint apart and clean out the old hide glue. It dries into a hard crust over time. Scrape it back to bare wood. Reassemble the joint using fresh animal glue and clamp it tight overnight. Synthetic wood glue ruins the porous surface and makes future repairs much harder.

I bought a set of six dining chairs but they sit quite low at the table, is there something missing from the feet?

Many early examples lose an inch or two from the bottom of their legs. People dragged them across stone floors for decades. Dampness rots the ends, and later owners just saw the damage off cleanly. Castors were standard on some later heavy seating, adding height back. If your set lacks castors, you might consider having discrete brass cups fitted to raise the seat height.

Best fabric for recovering drop-in seats?

Wool damask or horsehair cloth suits the period best. They wear well and hide minor stains. Avoid thin modern synthetics. The tension of the webbing pulls them out of shape around the corners.

My chair has a very dark red shiny finish that looks a bit thick in the corners of the carving, should I strip it?

Late Victorian restorers often applied thick layers of polish or tinted varnish over earlier surfaces. It obscures the crispness of the original carved details. Stripping involves harsh solvents that bleach the underlying timber. A restorer can wash back the thickest layers of old polish using a mild solvent mix without disturbing the wood below.

Home > Chairs > Mahogany Chairs > Page 109

Antique Mahogany Chairs

← Page 109 of 118 →

Carved from dense imported timber that takes a crisp edge, an antique mahogany chair provided seating for the dining rooms and parlours of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.