SCA Crossover: Refinishing A Chair

 I recently refinished a piece of wooden SCA furniture for a friend in the group, for his campsite.  It had definitely seen better days:

(all of these pics are halfway through sanding, to show just how much *crud* is in/on this wood)

Don't get me wrong, it's a good chair.  It's extremely well-made, sturdy, and not a joint is out of place, though it looks horrible.  What you're looking at is several years' worth of

• rain/water damage
• sun exposure/oxidation
• corroded varnish
• sweaty fighter butts (ewww)

Not only was the finish shot, but the wood was so swollen with weather and age in places that the chair wouldn't fully open OR close...rendering a really nice chair completely useless. 

I'll be honest, I was dreading the prospect of sanding allllll those pieces individually.  I guess the chair, or the Universe, or the Powers-That-Be heard me - because I could NOT get this thing apart to save my life.  I tried every tool at my disposal, got friends to help me, even tried to grind the hardware out, but it appears to have been made of naquadah-enhanced unobtanium, and sealed with black magic.  @_@  In the end I had to sand and stain this thing WHILE FULLY ASSEMBLED.  I'm here to tell you that was a bitch. 

BUT I got it done: 

(I could no longer feel my hands after this...and it still needed more sanding)

Here's the first coat of stain, applied very, very carefully, with a small brush and a lot of paper towels.  The chair is solid oak, and pretty well weathered and seasoned; still, I didn't want to chance the stain swelling the wood and undoing all the work I put into buffing down the seat pieces so that this thing would move properly again.  Rubbing stain into the wood with paper towels keeps too much stain from soaking in and swelling the wood, and it also gives you a LOT more control over the depth and amount of color.  

(oooh, aahhh)

After two more coats of stain, and several coats of spray poly-acrylic (for a low-tack, matte-sheen clearcoat, rather than a polyurethane which could stick in hot weather), it was finally done:

(The dark area of the back piece was severely stained, deep enough that I couldn't surface clean it out, or even sand it off the wood.  It's the same on the reverse of the piece; in fact, it's worse on the other side.  I have no idea what caused it, but, this was the best I could do with it). 

Sir John's and his lady Bridget's devices painted on the center of the back rest, in acrylic paint, and heavily clear-coated to prevent scratching.

Tada! 

Bob: Repairs & Updates

This is Bob:

Before & After

They're both Bob, actually.  Bob 1 and Bob 2.  You know how you have to have a name or something for a project when you're planning it out, or making lists of projects?


The shelf on the left got to be Bob the first time I fixed it up.  My father built it when I was like a year old (his name wasn't Bob), and eventually it got pretty rickety, and the style was weird - strange peaks jutting out from the top, and an angled crossbar from top to bottom across the back.  I took it apart and rebuilt it, and fixed up the stain job, back in...2006? 2005?  I don't remember.


A couple of years later I thought it would be pretty cool if I had a pair of them, so I built another one: Bob 2.


Bob 2 was getting a bit wobbledy recently, too (an accident last time I moved it stripped out some of the nails/screws on the bottom), so last night I took them both out to the garage, cleaned them up, painted just the front edges black, and then painted some fake gold "campaign furniture" hardware on the front at the joints.   I really love the way they came out!

After-After

It's subtle, but it's that little touch that these shelves really needed.

And this very small makeover was exactly what I needed this week,.  Kress is moving into his own place this week, and you know how moving can be.

Especially if you're as OCD about packing and stacking as I am, and you're not in charge of the packing and stacking, and are basically sitting still while moving is happening all around you, hehe.
                         ZOMG CHAOS.  

So anyway: shelf makeover! Ta-da!




That's Joe, my Gretsch 5125, in the corner.  I'm fostering it for a friend.  I'm going to have to get myself a practice amp so I can keep playing it after Kress moves all his PA stuff out.  








P.S. - I painted that desk lamp again, too.  Turns out I hated the way I did it the other week, after the first day.  This is boring, but at least it goes with my stuff.