Reupholstery 101 on Hold!

You may have noticed - Reupholstery 101 took the back seat as I wrote about the MAASA Conference last week.

This week I will continue to explore more of the inner secrets of the frame. Specifically, I will address the use of multiples types of wood employed in the making of a single piece of furniture, point out things that show age and further document  damage to the frame.

Every time I think I am coming to the end of material to blog about on this chair, I literally pull back another layer to discover something more to document. Here I have pulled back the cotton batting to expose the side rail of the wood frame and discern the wood species.

Photo: SHS

But in doing this I noticed the different colors of cotton batting. The darker layers show their age by the darkening of their fibers.  The top and bottom layers are clearly the more recent additions and therefore whiter than the middle layer. The upholsterer used the older material between the two newer layers to save money.

Here the lighting is more favorable to illustrate the different wood types.  Click on the photo to enlarge it and get a better look! Notice the horizontal lines running through the now exposed wood rail. They are the wood's grain. Notice also that a wood grain is not clearly evident on the leg.

Photo: SHS

They are in fact two different species of wood. It appears that the rail is possibly made from spruce and the leg and other exposed wood from mahogany. Mahogany does have a grain, but it is finer and less visible. This trait makes it perfect to use when the cabinetmaker wants the carving to take the spotlight.

Most wood furniture contains more than one wood species. For example, a furniture tag may say that a desk is made of oak veneer, hardwood and hardwood solids. That means oak veneer is covering an engineered wood made of hardwood particulate aka sawdust. This material makes up the majority of the furniture body.  Solid pieces of hardwood are then used at pivotal locations in the structure where greater strength is required for the product’s durability.*

The description for a Cross Island writing desk from Ashley Furniture states. “The medium brown oak stained finish is beautifully accented by the mortise through ornamentation to create the rustic beauty of finely crafted mission styled furniture.” This sentence says nothing about the physical make-up of the desk. Even the “mortise through” is purely “ornamentation”. Ashley furniture is engineered to withstand the rigors of everyday life.  Most of their case goods are composed of various wood veneers over engineered hardwood solids.

In fact furniture makers have been making their products from multiple wood species for thousands of years. The Egyptians veneered their furniture. (See "veneer" at this link).

Both mahogany and northern white cedar are mentioned in the cut line of an 18^th century Philadelphia Rococo chair pictured on page 114 of John T. Kirk’s American Furniture. On page 116 Kirk states “the use of American white cedar as the secondary wood” is one of the facts that connect the piece to cabinetmakers in the Philadelphia area.(15)

It just makes sense that a more inexpensive, yet sturdy wood would be used in a place that will never been seen by the user instead of using a more expensive primary wood through and through.  

Here is a look at the back rail from the underside where I removed all the webbing. Sadly, bits of the wood broke off as I removed the tacks.  Exposure to heat made the wood brittle. Repeated intrusions by nails caused this back rail to split. If it had been properly nourished with a mist of water and then sealed with oil the damage would have been less.  

Photo: SHS

Before I remove the next piece of webbing, I will moisten the wood to see if it helps alleviate some of the damage. I will only try a small section at first to check if the results are successful.

Notice the staple to the right of the "C" scroll was unable to penetrate the wood because it hit the head of the tack under it. 

Photo: SHS

This illustrates the ill effects of not removing the “leftovers” from previous work.

When the staple turns up like this it often pierces the finish fabric causing trouble on the surface. Leftover tacks and staples often build up near the edges of carved trim. 

That's enough for today. This weeks second post will have to wait until Friday morning! 

Cheers!
 

Theresa

Yummy Furniture and Design

theresamhs@sbcglobal.net

Connect with me at Facebook 
Link up at LinkedIn

*In general, deciduous trees are hardwood while trees with needles (pine) are soft wood. 

15. John T. Kirk, American Furniture Understanding Styles, Construction and Quality, New York, Harry N. Abrams, Inc. 116.