Rocker Repair/History

[mrhart]

I have this childs rocking chair that has been broken for a couple years. Too many little grandkids ect running around now so I want to get it fixed. The leg was broke off right under the seat and the whole lower half of the chair is a glue up. All I thought I could do is try the Gorilla on it and see how it holds up. What I found next was a crack in the arm rest that will be next. This could have been cracked for years and seems to be still pretty solid. Got me thinking, How do they make these handles?
All I know of this chair is I grew up watching the Wonderful World of Disney every Sunday evening at 6pm in it, as well as a ton of cartoons (coyote and roadrunner) through the early seventies. I know it was my dads who was fairly old when he had me. He was born in 1916 and he used it as a kid, but supposedly not new then either. Can any of you tell anything about the aprox age by the pics?

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[trainguytom]

I had to drop in on this thread, because your chair is so much like one that I have that was my dads & probably dates to around 1900-1910.
A couple of things about furniture of that era.
First, if it has not been re-glued, it's probably glued with hide glue which is reversible with heat & moisture, so you could take it apart & re-glue it if you want. If the tenons are a little loose in the joints, a good way to snug them to glue is to take a hand plane that's sharp & make some shavings. They curl perfectly & you can wrap the tenons with them to tighten the joint. I've had success using hide glue, moistening the shavings with it, and wrapping, smoothing out with my fingers & letting them dry, then lightly sanding smooth & to fit.
The arms are bent usually in a steam box. If I were repairing (& this won't be invisible, but will be pretty solid) I'd gently spread the crack by bending it, (you'll have to get a feel for not pushing hard enough to break it or make it worse) and drip & push epoxy into the crack until full & let that cure. then sand it flush. That should stabilize the piece. I've heard of ways to tint epoxy which would make it less visible, so you might want to Google that.
I'd avoid Gorilla type glues on this piece.
Actually, Fine Woodworking Mag did a glue test a while back & hide glue performed just about as well as all the current glues, not enough difference to actually make a difference, and for stuff not exposed to the elements, along with the reversibility, I think it's a good furniture choice.
Anyway, that's my 2 cents worth.

[mrhart]

I had to drop in on this thread, because your chair is so much like one that I have that was my dads & probably dates to around 1900-1910.
A couple of things about furniture of that era.
First, if it has not been re-glued, it's probably glued with hide glue which is reversible with heat & moisture, so you could take it apart & re-glue it if you want. If the tenons are a little loose in the joints, a good way to snug them to glue is to take a hand plane that's sharp & make some shavings. They curl perfectly & you can wrap the tenons with them to tighten the joint. I've had success using hide glue, moistening the shavings with it, and wrapping, smoothing out with my fingers & letting them dry, then lightly sanding smooth & to fit.
The arms are bent usually in a steam box. If I were repairing (& this won't be invisible, but will be pretty solid) I'd gently spread the crack by bending it, (you'll have to get a feel for not pushing hard enough to break it or make it worse) and drip & push epoxy into the crack until full & let that cure. then sand it flush. That should stabilize the piece. I've heard of ways to tint epoxy which would make it less visible, so you might want to Google that.
I'd avoid Gorilla type glues on this piece.
Actually, Fine Woodworking Mag did a glue test a while back & hide glue performed just about as well as all the current glues, not enough difference to actually make a difference, and for stuff not exposed to the elements, along with the reversibility, I think it's a good furniture choice.
Anyway, that's my 2 cents worth.

I had gorilla glued the leg before I posted. It seemed pretty strong last night when I removed the clamps. It had a fiairley irregular break which I guess gives it more surface area to glue. Tightened the screws ect and its in the living room ready for another 100 years of use. I did take a closer look at the crack in the handle, and incredibley enough, I couldn't make it open or close really at all. The wood is thick enough and bend is tight enough that its pretty solid. So maybe she'll hold up for a while.

I checked with my older 1/2 sisters, and they remember the chair and are digging up pictures from 1920 or so, of my dad sitting in it when he was little. The story goes, it was my grandfathers chair originally who gave it to his daughter they believe around 1916. She died of pnemonia at age 12 and my father "inherited" his big sisters chair. It was stored away after he was too old to use it, with all the sisters books and toys and things. I guess the death of the young girl was quite a struggle. All these things remained in basement storage for years and skipped a generation of being used by his first 2 girls (older 1/2 sisters) from his first marriage. Then in the early 60's, he discovered them again and our family (3) and then my kids (3-5) and now grandkids (5) have rocked the hell out of that thing. Well built things are amazing. The sisters say it's golden oak? from that period and with their antique experience, they say it would date early 1900's, not sure if it would be any earlier. They also say it was like a production chair, maybe like from Sears! Crazy. I see all sorts of "flaws" in it where everything looks like it was all crafted by eye.

If I can get some old pictures of it, I thought it would be fun to SS up a frame with pics from diff generations to hang above where it sits.

[trainguytom]

As long as it's fixed for the next generation or 2, your good to go. Here's a pic of my dad's (still call it that...some things never change) rocker.[ATTACH]15939[/ATTACH]
The seat originally was caned, but someone who had it in the interim before my kids were there to use it, upholstered it. That's going to change soon to get it back to the original caned look.

[mrhart]

Like you said, alot of similarities. The arm rests and the T shaped bolts that hold them on look identical. Can't quite see int he pics some of the other retail. The front horizontal dowel is turned on yours. That is the only part on mine that looks like its been replaced. I suspect it was turned to match the leg as well. Have you ever looked for a date or manufaturer at all on it?

[JPG]

Like you said, alot of similarities. The arm rests and the T shaped bolts that hold them on look identical. Can't quite see int he pics some of the other retail. The front horizontal dowel is turned on yours. That is the only part on mine that looks like its been replaced. I suspect it was turned to match the leg as well. Have you ever looked for a date or manufaturer at all on it?

I would expect yours to be more comfortable to the back with the flattish back rungs.

[mrhart]

I remember it being super comfortable, but my calipers indicate an extrememly tight fit at this point...maybe light sanding

[trainguytom]

You got me curious, so I did a thorough look & can't see any date or maker's mark. Too bad, now I'm curious. The finish on it is original & I really wish my relation hadn't done the upholstering thing. There will be a bunch of little brass tack holes that might be visible when it gets caned. Oh, well, it is what it is. I'm not taking it to "Antiques Roadshow" or to auction anyway.

[STB]

If the tenons are a little loose in the joints, a good way to snug them to glue is to take a hand plane that's sharp & make some shavings. They curl perfectly & you can wrap the tenons with them to tighten the joint.

Thanks for the tip. I wanted the finial on my current project to be a friction fit to enable removal during transport. But I made the tenon to small or maybe the hole to big. I had formed several solutions in my mind but I would have never thought about wrapping a shaving curl around the tenon.
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[JPG]

Thanks for the tip. I wanted the finial on my current project to be a friction fit to enable removal during transport. But I made the tenon to small or maybe the hole to big. I had formed several solutions in my mind but I would have never thought about wrapping a shaving curl around the tenon.
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The rest of that head looks very good!;)