How To Repair Broken Dining Arm Rest Chair

I saw an antique Barley Twist chair posted on an online sale and felt my pupils morph into heart shapes. I thought information technology would be PERFECT to get with my 1940s desk, on our principal floor. The seat caning was completely gone, but I was hopeful that I could replace it with a cushioned seat. I paid a niggling [lot] more for the chair than I should accept, given that it needed TLC. (Tip: Online auctions and vino are a bad combination.)

LEG REPAIR

When I got the chair home, one of the legs was cracked! Bummer. But the upside was that it was a clean break all the way through (no chips missing). This allowed me to pull the pause autonomously and get wood glue all the way through, for a solid repair.

Once the excess glue drips were cleaned upward with a paper towel, I clamped the leg and left information technology to dry under the fan. One time dry out, I pulled on it as hard as I could to ensure a firm leg. The final thing I wanted was to hold my jiff every fourth dimension someone sat on the chair. And thankfully, it was solid as a tree!

I excitedly brought the chair to my desk to get an idea of how it would look…and it was TOO WIDE to fit under the desk-bound!!!! I'grand commonly and then anal virtually checking measurements before entering into a behest state of war! I don't know why I skipped this of import step with this chair (information technology was the vino). And so after an hour of brow-chirapsia myself, I decided to suck it up and continue on.

CLEANING

I gave the chair a thorough cleaning to determine how good/bad shape the stain/finish was in. I used warm soapy water, in instance the stop was good. I used a soft bristle toothbrush to clean all the grooves and carved details. Fortunately, the finish was pretty darn practiced. Yeah!

SEAT BASE

To build the new seat I was planning to utilize plywood. Merely after I looked upwardly the cost of HALF a sheet of plywood ($36+taxation) I decided to look around my garage for an alternative. I already over-spent on the chair and wanted to keep the makeover cost as low equally possible. And is it simply me, or has the cost of DIY supplies skyrocketed lately?!

Anywho, I found a piece of ¾" pine in my scrap pile and used that. I drew out the shape of the seat, using a measuring tape. Considering the front end corners of the chair had raised decorative features, I decided to kickoff my front-edge behind that line, to alleviate the need for complicated cuts.

I used a jigsaw, with a 4" blade, to cut out the seat. Because I have a very standard [cheap] jigsaw, that doesn't take a guide arm, or a light, I clamped a direct edge board to help guide my cuts. This is the starting time time I've tried this and it worked fantastic! Hands down the straightest jigsaw cuts I've always made!

I wanted to 'circular over' the edges of the wood, and so it wouldn't be too sharp or uncomfortable on the keester. I had asked Santa [mom] for a router the Christmas before terminal – and Santa delivered! Hey, some women like fancy clothes and loftier heeled shoes. I like apparel I'k non afraid to mess up and power tools. And evidently some women like to wearable high heels while using power tools. Nosotros all have our ain thing…and that is ok!

I had never taken the router out of the box, so I watched a couple [seventeen] videos on how to use it. I decided to practice on scrap wood first, which turned out to be a very adept idea, because I messed it upward several times. But somewhen, I got it, and rounded over the edges of my seat. While they were still not perfect round overs (and would accept sucked on a table-superlative) it was admittedly fine for this project.

FOAM

The next step was to add foam. I've learned that chairs are normally padded with high density foam. But when I went online the cheapest I constitute was $fifty. No. Just NO! After racking my brain, I remembered that in that location was a piece of 2" foam in my garage that came equally packaging material in a computer delivery box. I decided this was worth a shot. Fifty-fifty if the foam flattened out besides quickly, I would at least know how to do upholstery, and would already have the wood base to re-utilise, and then I can supervene upon with the proper foam later if need be.

I used a serrated staff of life knife to cut the foam to the shape of the wood.

BATTING

I couldn't retrieve of an alternative to batting, and then I ordered batting online for $xv. I cut it so there was almost 4" of overhang on each side.

·        I stapled the four sides first.

·        Then I folded my corners in and stapled them.

·        Then the excess on the corners I tucked in as tightly as I could and stapled those.

My stapler is also non the best quality. For the staples that didn't go flush with the wood I used a hammer to tap them the balance of the style in.

Cloth

I had bought a behemothic piece of upholstery material at auction a couple years ago for $6 (great bargain – no wine involved). I cut out a piece and fastened it using the aforementioned steps as the batting.

DUST COVER

The last step for the seat was to add a dust embrace to the bottom. I guess the main function of a grit encompass is to hide the ugly cuts and folds under the chair.

I establish a roll online for $20. But still…no.  Information technology occurred to me that grit cover fabric looks suspiciously similar to gardening fabric. I had a roll of that in my shed! So I cut out a piece of gardening fabric, the size of the seat, folded the edges under, and stapled it on!

ATTACHING THE NEWLY CUSHIONED SEAT

The final pace was to attach the absorber to the chair. I placed the seat upside down on my counter, placed the chair over it and screwed it on! I used a drill bit to make pilot holes kickoff. I added a piece of painter's tape to the drill scrap to make sure I didn't get likewise deep on my airplane pilot holes and wreck the fabric. So I screwed the seat in place.

While nosotros don't actually have the space for a random chair, I withal appreciate it as a beautiful piece of history. And I'k happy I was able to make it functional over again, on a $fifteen budget.

Source: https://www.hometalk.com/diy/repair/furniture/how-i-replaced-a-broken-cane-seat-with-a-cushioned-seat-44370469#!

Posted by: andersonbligh1975.blogspot.com

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