Restoration Reports

       Not every piece we work on gets a Restoration Report.  We do as much research as possible on the old pieces brought in so that we are aware of the maker, type of glues and finishes originally used.  This information guides us in really attempting to restore the piece instead of just stripping or sanding and then slapping on a coat of Polyurethane.  We don't write a report on each item, just ones of special age or interest.  One can be specially requested by the owner of the piece.

The reports included here are just samples of ones we have done.


RESTORATION
REPORT

KOHN & MUNDUS
CHAIRS

At the beginning of the Twentieth Century Jacob Kohn and Josef Mundus were furniture manufacturers from Austria. They manufactured “Bent wood chairs” mostly in the New York, Boston area. The chairs were mostly sold for institutional uses such as schools and offices. Most chairs of this type were made with cane seats. The woven cane does not last a long time under this sort of use and needs to be redone often.

Kohn and Mundus developed and patented a new seat insert, in 1910, that was attractive, durable and easily replaceable. When a seat failed it could be removed and a new on snapped into its place.  Any maintenance person could do it. No need to send the chairs out for reweaving, a huge savings in cost and lost time.

The 4 chairs we worked on were apparently originally purchased by the Santa Anna School District in the late thirties or early forties.  Inventory markings indicate that they started out at the Julia C Lathrup Junior High School in Santa Anna, Ca. I was not able to ascertain exactly where these chairs were made. One has a stamp on it saying, “Made in _____land.” Unfortunately about 60 years ago some little genius stuck their gum under the chair at that point and when I removed it the printing came off too.

The chairs as presented to me were finished in a clear varnish. They showed signs of lots of use over their life with nicks and dings on the legs and seat rim, photo 1.  After researching the history, I decided that I would not use a chemical stripper on them because I was unsure how the seat insert would react. Therefore I hand sanded all the finish off, photo 2. Finally, I refinished them with a Black Lacquer Satin finish.

Future maintenance should be light cleaning with a damp cloth.  Do not use oils such as Orange Oil or others. They will only make the surface slick and actually attract dust.