My latest refinishing adventure

I don't even remember what year I found this chair.

Bought for a song at a yard sale, I originally thought it might be made of mahogany, it's so heavy. Now, however, I'm suspecting it might be oak. I should add, though, that I am TERRIBLE at identifying wood, so who knows?...

I'd read about the yard sale somewhere and figured I'd check it out. I had been trolling for used tools, and bought this behemoth instead.

As I remember it, the seller told me he'd found it at an Amish barn sale. It had been found tucked in the back of an old barn, as a matter of fact. The property owner wanted it out of there. So, here I was, dickering over the price. He wanted $75, I think, but I talked him down to $40. At first he wouldn't budge: he'd clearly been watching his Antique Roadshow. But I pointed out the spots on the arms where someone had clearly attempted to sand off the old alligator-crackled shellac finish.

Front leg detail.

I also pointed out that while the seat was clearly leather, other parts were obviously vinyl. So, I got a deal.

It turned out I needed the guy's brother to help bring it back to my place. It weighs around 75-100 lbs. If not for the little wood casters on its feet, I wouldn't be able to move it to save my life!

As the years have passed, I've looked at it guiltily, aching to get started, but unsure of what direction to take. Searching books and web-sites hoping to get some sort of inkling about its history, I'd lose heart and busy myself with other on-going projects. 

And now, for whatever reason, it's on my radar and I aim to do right by it. It's waited long enough!

As I've slowly begun to pull the materials off, I'm simultaneously coming across info that leaves me hopeful my piece is from the mid-1800's while stumbling on things that leave me concerned it's a  1960's Amish DIYer's knock off, lol.

Rusted out decorative furniture tacks over a leather-like banding that was used to trim over the faux leather-like fabric. I've never seen vinyl that has this type of fabric/canvas backing. Underneath, you can see the chair has been stuffed with dried grass. The banding and decorative tacks cover old upholstery tacks that were holding the faux leather in place. You can see the crazing of the finish on the wood, here, the alligator-skin look shellac can get after years of age. This leaves me wondering if the chair is from around the turn of the century.

Peeling back more of the outer arm fabric to reveal not only the backing of the fabric, but also the dense packing of the dried grass.

A cross brace across the lower portion of the arm supports the grass stuffing above. Below it, an opening contains ends of burlap, one piece that has the leather seat cover sewn to it (and was pulled taught and nailed in place over the spring cords), the second piece, the burlap backing for the interior piece of leather covering the inner arm. The upholsterer didn't bother trimming the excess, but folded the extra 6-12" up into the inside of the arm. Within its folds I actually found several very old lady's hair pins/bobby pins.

This piping was across the front of the seat. Weirdly: the seat surface is old leather (as you can see in the picture below) But the front edge of the seat, and the piping, are vinyl. However, this is NOT the same vinyl that is on the outer arms or back of the seat. As you can see, also, the piping was not made of cotton but of twine. The quality of the fabric leaves me thinking this piping and front piece were attempted sometime within the last couple decades.

Here, you can see the leather of the seat top. This same leather also covers the inner arms and inner tufted back of the chair. As you can also see, the leather is so thin and dry, it tears like paper. Beneath this what-looks-like cotton and dried grass is a layer of burlap that covers a grouping of springs that are tied with twine and set on top of furniture strapping. The bottom of the chair (as you can partially see in one of the upper pics that was a close up of the leg) is actually covered in a golden colored upholstery fabric.

I'm hoping I can run my pics by someone who will be able to give me some insight into the history of my piece. I guess we'll have to wait and see!