The Finished Wheelchair

I started on the wheelchair repair project in October.
http://shenandoahgatewayfarm.blogspot.com/2013/10/great-grandmothers-wheelchair.html

I didn't want to start on it earlier, because there was no point in getting it ready to be re-caned and not have some one to do the work.  We found Alice Higgins in Verona and she agreed to do the work.  Being cheap Not wanting to overwhelm her, I did the wood restoration myself.

 

We drove up and got it yesterday.  The new cane is obvious, but I was convinced to let it age naturally rather than staining it.  The colors will be close in about three years.  It is harder to see the repairs on the caning in the arms (the left arm).

 

It will hold people, but I hope no one sits in it.  If they do, I hope they don't press down on the cane arms to get up.  It needs to last the rest of my lifetime.  I doubt I will be willing to pay more to repair it than it is worth a second time!

We have placed it in the B&B rooms.  I chose to cover the new wicker with an "artfully" (my word) draped family quilt.  And I fully admit, my artful needs some help.  My Aunt Suzy is bringing me some of my mother's old dolls to place in it.  Naturally, after I find a doll hospital to repair them.....(Is that another project?)

 

Lee said, "Why pay to get it fixed if you are just going to cover it up."  I hate logical, engineering thinking.

"I want to keep people from sitting in it."

 

Will it?  Quilt or no quilt?  You tell me.

Send in The Pros

There's got to be pros.  Don't bother they're HERE.

 

I guess this means it is time to send the chair parts off to be recaned and restrung with wicker.

 


 

Lee ground off some of the rust on the metal supports. I wire brushed and sanded them and then today I sprayed them.

 

 I tried to use painter's tape to keep the spray from the tires. 

 

Very tedious.  So, for the large wheels, I cut a piece of cardboard and used it to protect the rubber.  Lee has some rubber wheel stuff I will use to shine them up when everything else is finished.

 

 

The final coat of Tung Oil went on today and now I need to get some Danish Oil to use on the underside of the wood, to preserve and protect it.

 

 

In the next week or two we will take the chair to the Factory Antique Mall in Verona, about an hour north of here.  Inside is a lady who will do the repairs for us.  Higgins Chair Caning will also sell the supplies for me to do it myself.  But I think I will let her finish the job.

My Aunt Suzy is sending some antique dolls to sit in the chair.  This should keep random people from sitting in it and breaking something, after all this hard work.

I can't wait to see how it will look all fixed up.