Shenaniganza!

Date	Note
2025.07.13	So I have an old wooden rocking chair that belonged to a family member who passed away 30 years ago. I don't know how old the chair itself is, there are no markings on it, and internet image searches have not resulted in anything useful. Chairs like it have been made for a long time. The fact that it has springs and screws in it might make you think it is relatively new, but both have been in use for centuries now. It has been broken for years, and I finally decided to try and fix it. I've already disassembled the chair. Despite how creaky it was, it took quite a bit to get it apart. I need to replace some damaged wood in a few spots and glue a broken spindle back together. I was working on cleaning some old glue off the broken spindle, and wasn't paying attention to what I was doing, so I slipped and cut myself. While not supper drastic, it was bad enough that I was afraid I might need to go see a doctor, and I'll not be working on anything too demanding of my hands for a while. It's been a few days, and it seems to be healing OK, so no Doc yet. Once I'm healed up enough, I'll get back to it. After all the wood damage is fixed up, I'll glue the chair back together with hide glue. Then I'm going to refinish it with shellac. I was inspired to think about ebonizing it because it's oak and some screws have blackened the wood in a few places. I thought it might be really cool looking to have the whole chair that same color, but I'm not sure about getting a consistent finish because I think a few pieces are made of different wood. Sometimes getting the same piece of wood to have a consistent color can be difficult, let alone different woods. Also, I'm split on the idea that old furniture should be kept as "original" as possible. I like the idea of keeping things original, especially for specific historical or artistic pieces. But I also believe that most furniture are functional pieces that need to adapt and change to stay in use, and these changes are part of each piece's history. In that vein, I'll be recovering the seat. I haven't decided on a fabric yet, as I want to see what the refinished chair looks like first. It's not that big of a seat so I might splurge on something fancy.

Date

Note

2025.07.13

So I have an old wooden rocking chair that belonged to a family member who passed away 30 years ago. I don't know how old the chair itself is, there are no markings on it, and internet image searches have not resulted in anything useful. Chairs like it have been made for a long time. The fact that it has springs and screws in it might make you think it is relatively new, but both have been in use for centuries now. It has been broken for years, and I finally decided to try and fix it.

I've already disassembled the chair. Despite how creaky it was, it took quite a bit to get it apart. I need to replace some damaged wood in a few spots and glue a broken spindle back together. I was working on cleaning some old glue off the broken spindle, and wasn't paying attention to what I was doing, so I slipped and cut myself. While not supper drastic, it was bad enough that I was afraid I might need to go see a doctor, and I'll not be working on anything too demanding of my hands for a while. It's been a few days, and it seems to be healing OK, so no Doc yet.

Once I'm healed up enough, I'll get back to it. After all the wood damage is fixed up, I'll glue the chair back together with hide glue. Then I'm going to refinish it with shellac. I was inspired to think about ebonizing it because it's oak and some screws have blackened the wood in a few places. I thought it might be really cool looking to have the whole chair that same color, but I'm not sure about getting a consistent finish because I think a few pieces are made of different wood. Sometimes getting the same piece of wood to have a consistent color can be difficult, let alone different woods. Also, I'm split on the idea that old furniture should be kept as "original" as possible. I like the idea of keeping things original, especially for specific historical or artistic pieces. But I also believe that most furniture are functional pieces that need to adapt and change to stay in use, and these changes are part of each piece's history. In that vein, I'll be recovering the seat. I haven't decided on a fabric yet, as I want to see what the refinished chair looks like first. It's not that big of a seat so I might splurge on something fancy.