@Gwynn @Maggie @Anastasia @SJT63 

This is the only occasional thing I'm doing that assists as much as it can. 

My long (ish) update on the vintage chairs.

It's been very challenging but enjoyable. I love a challenge when it comes to this and it's awesome when you find a solution that works.

The chairs are roughly 70 - 80 years old. 20-30 years away of being antiques. Came up against a few issues because of the age. The dowel pieces used in the joints were super long with a very deep curved design from top to bottom. You'd really have to hunt around to get dowel pieces as long as them.

Also the glue they used in those days was applied very liberally and the dowel was so dry. Taking the chair apart, meant that there were quite a lot of times I would need to hammer out the joints as much as possible, till I could see the dowel, and unfortunately have to saw it off, leaving the remaining dowel in there. As you can imagine the holes are deep. About double the size of a standard dowel plug. It was either that or risk splitting the wood, which is a more time consuming fix and to be avoided as much as possible.

I've drilled out all the joints of the dowel left behind now, ready for brand spanking new dowel. It's also been a time warp to see the screws of the day in those times. The threads are not much different but the heads are. I'm still thinking about whether I'm going to try get a remake of them for authenticity purposes or if I'm going to go something more current I'll decide later when the chairs are being put back together.

I also have been doing the chairs on my own. I had a sidekick for this job, but they had to bail after day one, so it is just me since then. I finished up at 7 pm on Wednesday night as I also had errands to run and an appt. I always love it when I can get to work again on the chairs.

Finally, they are now ready to go for the sanding, finishing and varnishing!!!!!

 Here are the three chairs I started with to make them into two and the current progress. 

The last photo is the sanding I have started on Thursday. what showed up through the sanding/stripping back process is such a beautiful oak. If they were mine, I'd keep that natural colour but the client wants a dark stained oak so can't do that. 

The photos will come through when they are approved. Other than all ,everything is just too much.