Preliminary Evaluation of the Seat

FINALLY after tending to a dozen other urgent projects, including ironing up the new shafts and sealing the wood, (probably the last operation on them for the duration of the coming winter), I am able to have a look at the seat!

The upholstery has been removed and set aside as a pattern.  I am hoping that I can completely finish the seat, so that I can bring it in the house and reupholster it this winter.

These are the only springs present under the upholstery.

The wood is just amazingly well preserved.  There is no appreciable damage to the seat at all.

The seat corners are braced in this manner; an iron strap joins the sides to the back, with this wooden block  nailed to the seat panels, A special type of carriage bolt passes through the side panel and iron strap, and screws fasten the iron strap to the corner block and lower seat back panel.

For the life of me, I do not know why the bottom edges of the corner blocks are so chewed up looking! The wood itself is as hard as iron! There is not a trace of rot.

The decision needs to be made whether to remove these cosmetically unattractive blocks in the seat corners and replace them.

* The corner blocks are SOLID enough to do their job
* If I attempt to remove the fasteners, I run the risk of splitting the panels, which are presently virtually damage free.
*If I attempt to remove the fastener on the side panel, I risk ruining the bolt, which I cannot replace with an identical fastener.
*The corner block will be covered entirely with upholstery.
*The corner block needs only to have its nails replaced to return to its original function.

I am not going to replace the corner blocks, only re-nail them and treat the iron straps for rust.  Of course this is a preliminary decision. If I can extract the two screws in the iron strap without force, and leave the bolt in place, I'll see what can be done about the corner blocks.

This is a view of the seat back.  While it is not pronounced in the photo, a slight gap has developed between the upper and lower halves of the seat back.  I have been thinking about this for weeks trying to decide how to proceed.  In the second photo of this post (the inside of the seat showing the springs), you can see that the upper and lower halves of the seat back are attached with vertical wooden ribs.  Once again, I am considering whether dismantling the seat is worth the potential for damage or wood movement (warping) when the seat back is freed from its restraints.  I tried all the fasteners, and every one of them moved freely.  The fasteners are all in remarkably good condition.

I've placed a slim bamboo paint stir stick in the gap and it doesn't slide in very far.  There is something of an optical illusion going on with this gap, which seemed to make the lower panel appear to bow out...or the top bow in...but checking vertically with a straight edge showed that there really isn't any displacement of the wood, just a slim gap that ought to be about 1/8" slimmer.

I am going to want to glue a wedge-shaped shim into this gap.  But I need to get in there and clean that lower surface to receive the glue.  Should I risk dismantling this nearly perfect seat?

Aha! I am able to slip a super thin steel putty knife wrapped in 100 grit sandpaper right through the gap, grab both ends of the blade and clean the old dirt and finish right off.

There are a few minor edge cracks that will "heal" with a bit of architectural putty, but of course the seat must first be stripped of its old finish.

All decisions at this point are preliminary, and could well be influenced by input from the experienced.


12/10/15 UPDATE...Everything about this preliminary evaluation proved to be WRONG...