Repair and Refinish Chairs

[Phil S.]

That's good - hard to build a table standing on one leg - either you or the table.

[Cooler]

Are these valuable chairs?  Historically or personally important.  

From the pictures they don't look particularly special.  

If they are not special in any important way, I would pitch them in the trash.  It is going to be a lot of work, and if they are not special in any meaningful way this might not be a decent return on investment.

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Are these valuable chairs?  Historically or personally important.  

From the pictures they don't look particularly special.  

If they are not special in any important way, I would pitch them in the trash.  It is going to be a lot of work, and if they are not special in any meaningful way this might not be a decent return on investment.

They aren't special in any meaningful sort of way.  I'm not sure where my mother-in-law got them, might have picked them up off the curb.  I figured it would be something to do that isn't tool intensive to give me an occasional break from the job search.

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I asked my wife what stain she wanted on the four I refurbished.  She said the same as the table.  I said, What table?  She said,  the one you're going to make to match the chairs. No joke...that happened....I put my foot down....and made the table!

Good man.  Way to put your foot down.  

[Steve N]

I asked my wife what stain she wanted on the four I refurbished.  She said the same as the table.  I said, What table?  She said,  the one you're going to make to match the chairs. No joke...that happened....[i]I put my foot down....and made the table[/i]!

 
 
 
 
 That made me laugh, thanks

For the OP

I think the steps you had will work fine, from below it looked to be a very well constructed chair. Water will mess up anything except seeds, unless it gets gone real quick. Something I didn't see if you do tear it down, you will have wood that is penetrated with screws, and other. When you reassemble them I'd put something into the screw holes first, probably epoxy, and if there are any torn up dowel holes you may want to drill them out oversized, and insert some hardwood dowel, Maple would be a good match. That way on reassembly screws would be tight, as would dowels. Another thing you could do better than dowels is a plug cutter to use 8/4 boards, and get face grain plugs for filling the holes. 2 Advantages are a better look, and much stronger compared to the end grain dowel.  I've found these newer "citrus strippers" to be gentler on wood than the old stuff, and most do a very complete job. If the water stained the wood, a lot of time it's just superficial, and a card scraper can get the stain off and not trench out the wood like a lot of sanders, and stuff may.

Plug cutters for getting face grain plugs Cut full depth, then saw them off with a BS if they are in a thicker piece of wood. Usually a depth of 1" plug is sufficient for making wood sound again for a dowel hole or screws. Drill out the holes for them to be inserted into with good quality Fortsner bits, Add glue, tap down, and use a flush cut saw to cut to close to the surface you are working around, then sand of use a sharp chisel to pare off the nub. A Forstner bits ring depth is usually either 1/2" deep or 1" either can help as a drill guide for how deep to drill. Overdrilling past your depth of plug isn't helpful as it allows for an unfilled pocket which can be a weakness when you drill it out to reinsert the screw, or dowel. Generally the damage is just superficial anyhow, except in huge blow outs.

[BillinIN]

That's good - hard to build a table standing on one leg - either you or the table.