Typical Me - I Started Something... And Now I'm Not Too Sure...

So... I bought these 6 dining chairs on Ebay in a fit of upholstery learning enthusiasm. I was looking for some small boxes to work on for my Furniture Restoration class but seeing these for sale nearby and managing to buy them in a giddy auction bid-out for only £22 for the lot, I thought - why not? I'll learn to do them up, re-upholster them and perhaps sell them on, maybe not for a profit necessarily but to a loving home, and I will have learnt a lot along the way.

Well... learn a lot I certainly have. How hard can it be? Well I have learned... pretty hard actually.

First thing I noticed when I got them home was that some of them have suffered from woodworm, and some are rotting away from being stored in damp conditions. They were all really filthy and covered in cobwebs and the threadbare leather seating (or what was left of them) and hessian and webbing are held in with about 100 rusty tacks per chair.

So there I was one sunny morning, sleeves rolled up - de-tacking and painting with woodworm treatment.

I got one chair pretty well cleaned up and discovered that one of it's joints was coming apart. Probably munched away from within by the woodworms. And then I stopped... for several days, possibly weeks, feigning bad weather or bad back or both... and then another sunny morning came along and I thought I had better do some more... one chair down... five to go...

And I was busy pulling out tacks and sanding down and I was listening to my Spotify playlist on my phone and suddenly, quite appropriately the Smith's came on with 'I Started Something I Couldn't Finish' and as I was singing along and merrily pulling out my 130th rusty tack, I thought goodness... is this song trying to tell me something...

Hair brushed and parted 

Typical me, typical me 
Typical me 
I started something 
...And now I'm not too sure...

Anyhoo... here is a before and after of the two chairs I have managed to clean up so far...

I took my wobbly joint chair into my Furniture Restoration class this week and showed it to my tutor. He made me bash it apart with a rubber mallet - poor chair! And on week one the woodwormy leg was left being held by about 4 clamps and a whole lot of fish glue.

And the following week we plastered filler all over the corroded joint and then tried to drill new holes for the dowls and it splintered into several pieces. The damage from the woodworm although not much to see from the outside but a few small holes, has turned the inside into swiss cheese! So - lots of umming and ahhing later... and we plasterd on more filler  - a LOT more filler and basically glued it back together with filler and popped it in a sash clamp.  

And all this is before I even get anywhere near any fabric...

I must say - people have been very supportive though, despite my clearly having some screws loose somewhere... my lovely mother-in-law has passed on her upholstery tool collection. And her much loved father's tool collection of chisels and block planes and screws... he was a carpenter and so has a very impressive collection of old wooden handled, steel bladed chisels, which my tutor helped me sharpen.

Now I just have to learn how to actually put some new upholstery on. 

Oh and de-tack and sand down and repair another 4 chairs...

Wish me luck... I'm gonna need it.

 To be continued...

Restoration - How Hard Can It Be?

So, during my time researching new careers I hit upon Furniture Restoration. 

It doesn't require a 3 year degree - tick

It doesn't cost 9 grand a year to study it - tick

It doesn't involve working with computers - tick

I really love working with wood - tick

I love old furniture - tick

Maybe I'll get to use a lathe - tick tick tick...

So I signed myself up on a London Met University short course in Furniture Restoration. (Cass Short Courses) I bought myself a book about furniture restoration and I bought myself some projects to work on during my course.

I became somewhat of an ebay addict in the process... discovering I have quite a penchant for Japanese Meiji Period lacquered and parquetry mini cabinets and jewellery boxes and music boxes. 

I have read quite a lot of my book now, and I am half way through my 10 week course and I have learned a lot. Although I have also learnt how much there is to know and how little I currently know. The gap between where I am now and where I would need to be to do Furniture Restoration professionally is wide and deep! 

On day one of our course I discovered that our teacher has been doing this for 6 years and prior to that was a cabinet maker for many many years, and he is still learning. 

I'm starting to realise there is no quick road to travel from computer boffin to career changing hands on fulfilling work. But I am having a lot of fun learning about restoring beautiful old pieces of furniture. I'm very much enjoying immersing myself in a woodworking studio for 3 hours every Wednesday night and working with tools and wood rather than computers and bits of paper.

I come home each night with my hands blackened and sore and I am building up an impressive collection of cuts and bruises too. Last week I managed to hit my thumb with a claw hammer instead of the leather punch I was aiming for to punch out a small circle from some copper sheet. I was trying to look nonchalant - as if it didn't really hurt like buggery but it was tricky to pull off when I noticed I was dripping blood everywhere... 

My favourite piece is this little Japanese Parquetry mini cabinet that I bought on ebay for £60 - probably far too much to pay for something that was pretty damaged and not terribly fashionable at the moment. But I love it. It had a door hanging off its hinges, and is missing a side handle and a back piece of it's bottom trim, and it had a big split up the back. I have now cut and planed it a new back piece, and patched up the split up the back and have waxed and polished it up... is still a work in progress but is definitely getting better. 

I'm also creating a new door for this bigger box that has it's door missing and a few pieces of parquetry tiles missing and a stuck draw with a missing handle.



My third project is an old tea caddy that needs a new side handle and cleaning up and reglueing here and there...

It's still got its original velvet lining and foil lining in the tea holders and it has it's original glass mixing bowl - it's a little bit chipped but all in all not bad for it's age.

I'll keep you posted as to my progress. Next step is to try and carry into London one of 6 dining chairs I bought on Ebay for repair and re-upholstering... quite how I am going to carry one all the way to Commercial Road to my evening class I am not too sure... but if I can do it... I am sure I will learn a lot.

And so, in answer to the title of this blog... how hard can it be?

The answer my friends is... quite hard indeed. But very enjoyable and rewarding.