Hi all,
I have an old black chair that needs restoration. The major challenge for me in this chair is weaving new cane seats and sides, but the frame itself needs some work.
The frame is structurally sound and I won’t mess with most of it, but the original finish is a bit pre-loved. It is old, not sure how old but has an adjustable headrest with a tapestry cover. I think it was japaned but this has faded a bit to a sort of very dark grey. It is also pretty dirty.
Ideally, I would like to maintain the ‘patina’ of an old chair, except that it will have new cane and tapestry. Can anyone suggest a regime that starts with freshening up the original finish (wash and wax?) but might need to end as a complete strip and refinish (not really what I want)?
Thanks
Dave
Replies
Clean it first. The finish may be shellac or shellac with black tint, so I would not use any water. Do a test with a rag with mineral spirits in an inconspicuous place. This should get a good bit off, and in places where body oils have built up (arms), it may take the finish away because the oils have dissolved the finish.
A picture might help us to get the feel of what might be done and to gauge the origins of the chair.
The physicians credo--"First, do no harm." is appropriate. Cleaning is a good thing in moderation. Use mineral spirits to remove oily dirt, and then use a very gentle soap solution to remove the worst of the water soluble dirt. Be careful with water--you want the direct opposite of a power wash. Then you can consider whether you need to strip the old finish.
When you say black "japanned" I interpret this as being painted black, not a clear finish that has darkened almost to black over time. With painted furniture of historic character, the best advise is to follow the advice of John T. Kirk to "Buy it Ratty and Leave It Alone" which was a chapter title in his influential book The Impecunious Collector written in 1975. (As an aside, I note that even Mr. Kirk has subseqently come to believe that this admonition has gone too far when it was extended to furniture with clear finishes.)
Thanks both for your replies - Steves comment is very much my gut feel, except that I think new tapestry and new cane might look incongrous on the very worn finish.
Attached are some rough photos showing the style of this rather interesting chair.
The finish is definately 'paint' rather than a tinted but essentially clear film. I suspect that it had a reddish undercoat, athough the timber itself is a dark red colour. Unlike the other japaned piece I have, This one does not have any pale colour intagglio carving, which is what is stopping a refurbish of the other piece.
Cane should be pretty easy to "age" with a light glaze applied and wiped off to leave a bit in the interstices. Experiment on scrap--there are lots of variables--how dark to tint the glaze, what color, how vigorously to wipe off excess, and whether you will leave a "wear pattern" in the wiping. With tapestry, it's a matter of choosing the right color/pattern that doesn't shout NEW.
I would just clean this up and replace the cane and headrest. For "aging" the cane, some colored thinned varnish would probably do.Gretchen
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