Picked these up on marketplace for $20 yesterday, planning on regluing as many joints as possible, sanding, and hitting them with some shellac.
So far, I’ve gotten the legs off one, but i THINK the round portion of the back is attached to the seat with wedged tenons, but it’s hard to tell because of how old and beaten up the wood is.
If they are, any tips on disassembling wedged tenons?
I’m thinking if they’re still adequately glued, too just leave them alone, because i can’t think how I’d get a glued wedge out
Dining room chair for scale
Hmm, it looks like your process doesn’t maintain the size of the chair. Try to avoid water based products. They cause the wood to expand.
I also tackled restoring a chair that had a thick layer of paint. The seat was split, so I repaired it with domino joiners. Removing the paint was a real struggle: I started by scraping, then disassembled the parts, which was difficult because the old glue joints wouldn’t come apart cleanly. The turned, symmetrical pieces I was able to refinish on the lathe, but for the rest I spent hours sanding the carved curves. It turned out to be pine underneath, so it wasn’t worth the effort.
