I've got this great DCW in Ebony that I found in my dads barn; he found it at the dump and thought it was so ugly he had to have it. He gave it to me at Christmas a few years ago. It has a number of... issues, that I would like to correct and bring it back to as much life as possible.
First: backrest has been drilled... twice - I guess the backrest was too low for them the first time... bastards. I've found some replacement shockmounts but I can only find the single circle shockmounts - this chair has the lozenge style... any suggestions?
Second: the chair was painted black. I know from the underside of the seat that it was originally ebony stain. Im afraid the chemicals in the paint stripper may damage the glue on the plywood. Has anyone found this to be an issue?
Third: What glue would people best recommend for getting the shockmounts back on? I've heard Gorilla Glue mentioned... but it makes me kind of wary.
If anyone has successfully restored one of these I'd love to hear your notes on it. I know I could send it to Alfie at HumeModern, but he's fairly out of my price range - and a little slow to respond to emails.
I'd like to point out that I dont intend on reselling this chair... Im restoring it out of love so the investment of money isnt going to have much financial return (i.e. I'm a poor starving artist so I cant have it professionally refinished - lol)
Any and all tips are extremely appreciated! I can be reached via email at: LuciferSum@yahoo.com
JB Weld
Having two roommates I wanted to buy a less than perfect Eames armshell and slap a repro rocker base on it (rather than investing heavily in a good condition rocker that Ifear my roommies will destroy) JB Weld worked brilliantly to fix a small crack in the fiberglas! Only problem is that its not the same color..but oh well.. im not reselling.
In case anyone was wondering, this is also a shameless bump to see if anyone has any more suggestions on restoring the DCW. Anyone? Anyone?
no gorrillas!
it's a great glue, but it expands and is not suited for your needs. your local hardware store has a number of glues that will work to adhere wood/rubber. i have used the various goop products with good results. follow the instructions to a tee and you should do fine.
strip, fill and sand your wood surface, before applying new finish. but once drilled dcws are never the same, unless you revenear. sell as is, cuz onced drilled they aint worth much....
Cow Hide
If it were mine, this is what I would do. Take the chair apart and sand the areas for the shock mounts to bare wood. Lightly sand any brush marks out. Fill the bolt holes. Glue the shock mounts. Tape off all shock mounts and spray with a low luster black paint. Buy a cowhide and cut out a seat and back. Contact cement the hide to the seat and back of the chair. Put the chair back together. Cool chair with classic looks.
I've heard
one suggestion was to do the same thing with zebra skin. oy...I'm most interested in bringing it back as close as possible. I'm okay with the back having holes in it... I want the surface to be restored tho - nothing beats that rich dyed wood.
Speaking of... I was disappointed to learn that the Herman Miller re-issues of the LCW and DCW are no longer aniline dyed. Instead the red and ebony are painted - which eventually chips leaving ugly white marks - exactly the reason that aniline dye was used on the first ones!
Check out the link...
Check out the link below---it's a forum discussion from awhile back on some other site. I have two chairs whose backs need regluing. I tried regular epoxy and it held up great until someone sat in the chair! Too brittle; didn't flex with the shock mount, I guess.
I haven't tried anything else yet. The chairs are in my attic for now but eventually I'll get around to fixing them. I'm hoping someone will discover the perfect adhesive in the meantime.
http://www.furnituresociety.org/dc/dcboard.php?az=set_linear_mode&forum=...
thanks spanky
I'd come across that thread a while ago ( I think thats how I came across Hume Modern) As soon as I get the work done on mine (maybe late summer) I will post the results.
So I've got some advice on the glue, on paint stripper...now can anyone recommend a place to get old single lozenge style shockmounts? Thats whats on the chair now and I want to keep it true (if I can)
Can you cut your own shock m...
Can you cut your own shock mounts out of neoprene? Or is there hardware involved, too? I can't remember what they look like offhand. Mine have been up in the attic forever.
There are all kinds of foam places that sell neoprene in various thicknesses, though you'd probably have to buy way more than you need.
hardware is involved
The shockmounts are cast out of whatever kind of rubber they originally used, with a washer on the inside. That way, when the rubber is glued to the wood, the bolt threads into the washer from behind, and you have no unsightly bolts through the front of the chair. I've seen some repros listed on ebay, but I have been warned to stay away from anything but OEM. Since this is a fairly integral part of the chair I tend to agree.
What kind of chairs have you got? DCW or LCW? What colors?
I have two DCW in natural oak...
I have two DCW in natural oak. I paid $260 for them at auction about five years ago. One has a repair---a big screw going through the front side of the back into the shockmount. Otherwise they would have sold for higher.
I just looked at mine and they have the oval shock mount of what I'm pretty sure is neoprene (solid, not foam as I'd thought). I think you could make these. The hardware isn't anything unusual, just a bolt and a nut. The neoprene part has two 5/8" (?) holes for the nuts but I don't think any hardware is embedded in the neoprene at all, is it?
I'm not looking forward to scraping off the failed epoxy from the wood and shock mount of my one chair. At least I didn't try that on the other one. And as for the screw hole in the back of the one---I dunno. I guess I could get the whole back of it re-veneered. I like the idea of adding hair-on hide to it but I think I prefer the look of wood.
veneer
as far as i've ever seen the nut is embedded into the shockmount. On mine whoever drilled it simply substituted a thinner bolt and tossed a couple of hex nuts on the backside.
My plan for the veneer is to strip all the gross paint off of it, then redye it with the aniline dye as it originally was. I'm going to clean the holes, fill them with putty, then get a carpenter to drop a circle of veneer in on top. I'm hoping that will hide as much as possible. Perhaps hide isnt the right word - it will indicate a better crafted repair.
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