Restoration Project

Not a pretty sight!

This was once a beautiful ebonized beech bentwood rocking chair, Thonet, or in the style of. See Extra. I can't find the name stamp but it is certainly a very old chair, in the house long before I was born.

As a child I loved this chair. It was in the sitting room, so not used very much. I used to love to lie on the seat with my legs sticking up against the back, moving them back and forth to make it rock. My Nan would have told me off if she'd caught me doing that. I wasn't allowed to put my feet on the rail.

See how nan had stitched hessian under the caning to try and strengthen it. Since it came into my possession 20 years ago it has deteriorated. Not the seat, that was just natural old age, but the woodwork. It has been kept outside in the garage, unloved. Well no, loved, but not stored well.

I will need to attend to a lot of cracks in the bentwood before I recane it and it won't be done quickly but today I took it to The Wood Workshop and removed the old cane from the seat.