Chairs

I bought these chairs (and a cheap laminated dining room table) when I was in grad school. The chairs were wobly and needed to be reglued for some time. Well, still not having any friends and nothing to do in T.H. during the winter time, I restored all four chairs one by one, pretty much half an hour a night. I completely disassembled all parts. During that process, I tossed an ugly back made from pressed paper board and replaced it with five vertical ribs. Three turned cross members that did not do much in the way of structural support were replaced with three cross members that have tenions and for which I cut mortises into the legs. I glued the chairs back together and stained them in walnut, to hide the fact that the chairs were built form many kinds of wood at the factory which was not helped by my modifications. I coated them with a semi-gloss polyurethane. My father upholstered the chair seats. I cut the motises and tenons with chisels and a hand saw.

New tools used:

• Electric drill*
• Sanding attachment for electric drill*
• Handsaw*
• Spray-on precolored polyurethane* (not to be recommended)
• Wood chisels*