Duplicating Chairs

We got a commission last fall to add two new chairs to a set of eight we made in 1991 ... I remembered the chairs well. We made the originals from 3 pictures (front, side, and back views) from a museum in Connecticutt. I never saw the originals, we had no measurements and I remember them being difficult to reproduce. In fact, I remember them as the hardest chairs I ever built. I thought it was because I made them from a picture .... Hah ! They were just hard chairs .... Fortunately we had some patterns that we kept; no notes, no drawings, but we did have a chair from the original set to copy. What we should have done, at that point, was what I always remember as an important part of a new chair design, Make some full size drawings. At the minimum, a seat plan view showing the side angles, a side view, and a head on elevation. Accurate drawings like these take time, and since I had the chair to copy, I skipped this step. Several times, I wished I hadn't .. Anyway, I'm glad they're done ... The two new ones are in the photo above and two from the original set have moved to Boston. You would think duplicating something exactly would be easy, particularly if you built the originals and you have one on hand to copy. Well, one of us forgot what he learned about building them in 1991 and the other one who was working on them was only 7 in 1991 so he didn't remember much about them either. We got through them and it was still a challenge but a great experience all over again. How'd I do that? What (exactly) is that angle? And how (exactly) exactly do you match a new finish to a 17 year old patina on a set of cherry chairs? Ain't easy .... Click the photos to enlarge them ...

First you've got to get Will to turn the front legs and carve the little 'Spanish' feet ... he liked that..

Then you've got to shape, mortise and tenon and knock together the back legs and top rail and center splat .. shape all that stuff and glue it all up ...

Connect the dots ...

Find someone to do the rush seats ... Bob Post from Schenectady was great ... 518-357-2988 He also does caning ...

Back from Bob now ... The natural rush seats are greener now (as were the originals when they were first done) but eventually will fade to the tan color you see on the original chair on the left. The new chair seats have a slightly different look, as the person who did the originals is no longer working and each rusher has a slightly different way of working with the material. And ... now we're done ... Next !