This chair was obviously handmade, it was one of my first projects when I first got into woodworking. There were a lot of broken pieces which I was able to redo. The paint / stain was stripped off a long time ago and all the pieces were stored away until I took on the challenge of rebuilding the chair. The caning was not as big of a challenge as I thought it would be, with help from the Internet, I found plenty of pointers and supply houses.
It was a fun project I did for my mom. My mind was constantly on the person who made the chair and the tools they would have used compared with the tools and resources I have available today, electricity being the prime helper. I was thinking about all the mothers in my ancestry who rocked their babies using this chair. My guess is, from the family members I talked with, the chair was made sometime in the mid to late 1800's.
Yolanda, I admire your work. You really did that rocker justice!
I, too, became interested in woodworking by restoring family pieces and alley/garage sale finds. It really taught me a lot about basic joints and construction techniques. I started mostly stripping paint that my boomer generation thought they should use to "antique" old furniture. (That is one reason I cringe at painted furniture today. 😩) As I needed to make repairs to the furniture, I learned more about woodworking. More time and effort is required in restoring a piece of furniture than in making it from scratch. Hence, I still have pieces that I hope to some day restore, but just don't currently have enough time to work on them. L/W
“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” Benjamin Franklin
