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Expert: - 6/4/2009


Question

Antique chair seat
Hi Mark - I must admit I have no clue about antiques but went shopping with a friend and saw a beautiful chair(and what turns out to be a turn-of-the century decorated mission rocking chair)that I just loved for the look.  The frame and structure of the chair is in great shape - barely a nick on it.  But the seat has issues.  This chair must have spent a good deal of time in a barn as the upholstery, backing, burlap, and padding had been ripped apart and the seat itself used as a mouse haven.  But at $50 I couldn't pass it up knowing I'm a do-it-myselfer and ready to tackle a project. After weeks of finding instructions on spring replacement, retying coils, and the like, I'm even wondering if it's worth it to me to go to the trouble. (a real antiquer is probably shuddering in their boots about now).
In the picture, the top of the seat is facing the camera. The springs are soldered together at the base and is one mechanism so there was no webbed base. The middle spring has broken within the spring not at the base - a former owner had jimmy rigged it with wire and old pantyhose!  My questions are:  Do they make a spring assembly replacement like this and if not, do I go the route of webbing the bottom and buying 7 individual springs and doing the tying (I've heard each spring is around $20?) or can I just reupholster the chair without springs and if so, how would I do that?  
Sorry for such a lengthy problem - I really did try to research this and am running into a brick wall.  I guess I'm not too interested in the chair for the "antique value", but want it to be a usable rocker in my home.
Thank you so much for any advice you can give me!

Answer
Hi,

Sorry for the delay in answering,  I was away over the weekend and did not check my email.

You should just remove everything that is there now.  Glue some well fitting corner blocks in the frame as long as you have it apart since rocking chairs are hard on a frame.  

Then place webbing on the bottom of the frame,  as many strips as you can as close together as you can, weaving the strips of webbing like a basket.  You will need a very simple tool called a webbing stretcher to do the job.  It is a small wood board with 5 or 6 large pins sticking out.  Use the tool like a crow-bar to tighten the webbing.

Then purchase from an upholstery stop 6 #1 hard springs and tie them across the top.  Use double jute twine for extra strength,  just tie them so that it looks like the surface of a bed pillow when you are done, sort of rounded.  Over the springs place a layer of cotton or Dacron batting to prevent squeaking,  then a layer of heavy weight burlap,  and then 1 or 2 inches of foam, extra firm density,  try to buy H.R. quality foam.  Don't buy foam in a fabric yardage shop the quality is often not very good.  If you can't find a source for good foam go to foamorder.com and buy from them.  

Then over the foam a layer of cotton batting or bonded Dacron and then your upholstery fabric and you are ready to sit down.

The springs should not cost you more than two dollars each.  There are upholsterers who may charge by the spring to do the job and charge for six springs which would be $120 to put a new seat in the chair.  

I hope this information is helpful to you,  please don't hesitate to contact me if I can be of further help as you go along.

Good luck.

Mark Miller
    Questioner's Rating
    Rating(1-10)Knowledgeability = 10Clarity of Response = 9Politeness = 10
    CommentThanks Mark! No problem on the delay - everyone needs some time away! I appreciate the steps you've given me to go forward on this project and as soon as I locate a materials supplier I'll be in business. Thanks again for your help - I feel better about my decision.


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Mark H. Miller

Expertise

custom furniture upholsterery. Became journeyman custom upholsterer in 1969. Certified by Upholsterers Intl. Union. Worked at San Francisco`s most prestigious upholstering shop as senior upholsterer. Am now president of Domar Upholstered Furniture Inc. Have upholstered for Presidents Reagan, Nixon, Clinton and the Queen of England. formerly taught classes in custom upholstering at the San Francisco Community College. Happy to answer all your upholstering questions.

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