How do you clean the wooden legs?

Wipe them down with a slightly damp cloth first to lift off surface dust. Dry the wood straight away. Apply beeswax polish sparingly with a soft duster. Leave it for twenty minutes before buffing it to a low shine.

I bought one at an auction recently and the seat feels quite lumpy and hard when you sit on it, can this be fixed?

The internal ties holding the coil springs in place often snap as the twine ages. This lets the springs tip over, creating hard lumps under the seat. An upholsterer can open the base and retie the springs. They will lash them back into alignment without needing to replace the top fabric.

Can they be recovered in modern fabrics?

Yes, the frames take new fabrics well. Avoid stiff synthetic leathers if the chair has deep buttoning. Heavy materials struggle to fold into the deep tufts.

Why do some of these chairs have such small castors on the front legs while the back ones just rest directly on the floor?

This was a common setup for fireside seating. The front castors allowed a servant to lift the back slightly and wheel the chair closer to the hearth. Keeping the back feet flat meant the chair would not roll backwards when the sitter shifted their weight.

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Antique Tub Chairs in South East

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Antique tub chairs feature a distinctive rounded back that merges with the armrests to enclose the sitter in a continuous upholstered sweep, originally designed to keep off draughts in large Georgian and Victorian rooms.