The Family Barber Chair

[Bill]

Well, guys... here is the chair I drove down to San Diego for. (actually Escondido) It will need quite a bit of restoration, but I am extremely happy.

A brief history. This chair was in my Great Great Grandfather's barber shop on State Street in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was the first barber shop in the city and opened in 1852, or thereabouts. I'm not sure when the chair was in the shop... whether it was in the earlier or later years.
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You can see where the red velvet was under the leather at one time... The family story goes that it was covered in leather because of all the farmers, cowpokes, and sheep herders. Apparently, they were a little rough on the velvet
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This is a little closer look. I'm hoping sombody out there will be able to help my restoration process by offering anything they know about this type of chair. There are extra hole drilled, pieces missing, and I haven't figured out how the foot rest attaches to the chair. Anybody have any info... please share it with me. I'm more interested in difinitive answers, but guesses are also welcome. Just let me know which one you are offering.
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Here is a close up of the swans on the hand rest. Is that cool, or what?
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[Sejanus]

That is a wonderful story and family history behind it. It is also a very handsome chair! I bet it will look just amazing when it is all spruced up!

Best of luck with the project.

[Bronco]

Bill, that should turn out to be a fine looking chair when you are done.
Couldn't find any pictures that looked like yours, just this tidbit-
1880's
The average shop at this time cost approximately twenty dollars to equip and were ten by twelve feet in size. The shop consists of a straight-backed chair with a head piece resembling a crutch, a basin of water, a piece of common soap and a brush, 'setting' chairs and enough towels to last a week. "One towel to every ten to twelve customers." Hair cuts were five or ten cents and shaves were three cents.

Best of luck with the project!

[Queen of Blades]

Very cool, Bill!

Any pics of the footrest?

[PalmettoB]

Now this is a guess, but based on the location of the holes and the fact that the moulding around the back only runs up to where the holes are, the holes were probably how the footrest was attached, so maybe there is a fitting missing that goes with the footrest?

Nice chair, BTW. Are you going to replace the leather? Then again, it might look good with the red velvet restored, too. Interested to see which way you go on that.

[IsaacRN]

Very neat looking chair. DO you plan to restore the leather/wood or gonna keep it rustic?

[qhsdoitall]

Nice Bill. Good Luck on the restoration project.

[Bill]

First question before I forget. Does anyone have to scroll to the right to see the entire photo? I didn't reduce my file sizes when I uploaded them. I'll change them if they do that.

I haven't decided whether or not to restore with velvet or leather. I'm leaning towards tan leather right now.

I don't have the foot rest. It probably got thrown out years ago. I'd sure like to know, myself. I'm not even sure how to research it. I was thinking patent office, but don't know if furniture companies or tradesmen would have applied for one or not.

I thought it was pretty cool that the eyelet to fasten the strop to the chair is still there. You can barely see it at the elbow end of the right arm rest. It's bent down, but still there.


What kind of bird is this anyway? Swan... egret... what?
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[Bill]

I will include some pics of the underside of the chair. Maybe someone can give me hint as to how this thing is supposed to work. One metal face plate is missing from one side, but the screws to hold it are still there. I'd like to know what they were for, as well.

Here is the side that is missing. You can also see where my grandfather repaired the leg brace with new wood.
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This is the other side with the plate in place.
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[Bill]

Here it is without the cushion. I don't know what the holes are for. Directly beneath the holes at the front edge of the seat are two dowels. They were apparently used to attach something else in that location... but I don't know what it could have been. Check out the scroll work at the end of the bird's mouth. It looks to me like it is suggesting that the bird is vocalizing.
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This is from a different perspective.
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[Bill]

http://www.theshaveden.com/forum/vbpgimage.php?do=full&p=545
I have a postulation. Anyone think that another plate attached to the bottom of the chair seat? Maybe it had a rod coming off of it that went into the hole in the plate to allow the chair to tilt back? I say that because of the rectangular wood pad just above the hole in the chair seat frame. It looks like it may have been where it rested on the leg framing when it was tilted back.

[Lyrt]

Directly beneath the holes at the front edge of the seat are two dowels. They were apparently used to attach something else in that location... but I don't know what it could have been.

This? (sorry, I don’t know the English term. A footrest?)

[PalmettoB]

http://www.internet-online-success.com/furniture/barber_chair.jpg

Bill, based on this picture, I think you were right about the tilting mechanism. And the holes are probably where the footrest attached in front of where the legs kinda curve back in on lower front.

Here is another shot on the cover of a price guide. Not exactly like yours, but another example of some early configurations.

http://www.mjdtools.com/books/133407_lg.jpg

[denmason]

Hey Bill, nice chair. Just wanted to know if you are going to refinish the wood. Myself.... I think I'd try and keep most of whats there now. Give it a good cleaning and re-amalgamate the finish. I can't tell if it's lacquer of shellac or varnish, but you could bring that old finish up to looking almost new while keeping that good looking aged stain in tact. I hope you don't plan on stripping it, too much history in that finish. I've got lot's of experience with sort of thing and I know this chair can have a new life.
Good luck with the project and keep us posted.

Dennis

[qhsdoitall]

Hey Bill, nice chair. Just wanted to know if you are going to refinish the wood. Myself.... I think I'd try and keep most of whats there now. Give it a good cleaning and re-amalgamate the finish. I can't tell if it's lacquer of shellac or varnish, but you could bring that old finish up to looking almost new while keeping that good looking aged stain in tact. I hope you don't plan on stripping it, too much history in that finish. I've got lot's of experience with sort of thing and I know this chair can have a new life.
Good luck with the project and keep us posted.

Dennis

What would you suggest doing for the new/repaired pieces?

[denmason]

What would you suggest doing for the new/repaired pieces?

These pieces can be made to look as if they were always there. With the use of stains and glazes they will blend beautifully in with the existing wood. I've done many restoration jobs for museums and libraries. The existing wood should be cleaned with mineral spirits or turpentine to get rid of any wax and dirt. Use a rag or toothbrush or very fine steel wool for this. The new wood needs to be stain matched (this is where a good eye comes in) you don't want to match the stain perfectly to the old finish, the final match to finish will come with the use of a glaze. Then to reamalgamate the old finish, you would use the appropriate thinners for that type of finish, I'm gonna guess it's a lacquer. So, using lacquer thinners and a NEW clean bristle brush (buy a good one, Purdy brushes are good) you then apply a wet coat of thinners over the old finish, keep the brush wet at all times. Never dry brush it! The thinners will re-activate the old finish and any scratches or crazing or alligatoring will start to disappear. This will probably take more than two applications. The old finish will look nice and shiny for a while. After thorough drying time the finish will become dull. After it's dry use 0000 steel wool to buff the finish. Do it very lightly and with the grain. If there are any thin spots in the finish you should apply another coat of lacquer finish, this time to the whole piece of furniture (new wood also). When you are happy with it, buff it again with the wool LIGHTLY!, then tack rag it and then apply a good hard paste wax and buff, buff, buff till your hearts content. :happy093

Dennis

[Bill]

Dennis...

Great info and easily understood. It is appreciated. By any chance, can you tell what kind of wood it is from looking at the photos? The stain that was originally used has a redish hue to it.

I won't guess what I think it may be because that's exactly what it would be - a guess.

I think Lyrt is right about the footrest. I also think the two holes in the seat frame are where the chair was made stationary by adding screws at those locations. Right now, the chair does not tilt, but I can tell that it should.
http://www.theshaveden.com/forum/vbpgimage.php?do=full&p=543

I think the lighter colored pieces of wood near the front of the seat actually replaced some kind of metal support system for the footrest. The dowels on the underside front panel of the chair could not support an entire footrest system all by itself.

This is the bottom of the seat.
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Here is a straight-on pic that shows the dowels hanging from the front panel of the chair.
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[qhsdoitall]

Dennis, thank you, that was a very informative post.

[denmason]

Hey Bill, I'm gonna call it MAHOGANY. Won't swear to it, but a lot of the old barber chairs were made with mahogany. Do you have any good side views of the fine piece? I'm trying to see IF this chair tilted because I know many of the old (150+ years) barber chairs did not tilt. I'm getting very curious about this chair, and a bit excited for you as well. Can't wait to see the finished piece!!!

[denmason]

MY GAWD BILL!!!!!!!! You gotta look here!! http://cgi.ebay.com/Beautiful-1800s-Wood-Barber-Chair-Barber-Shop_W0QQitemZ330162376387QQihZ014QQcategoryZ63567 QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
It's your chair on Ebay. BUCKEYE BARBERS' SUPPLY DAYTON, OHIO. And it does tilt and has a separate foot rest.

[Queen of Blades]

This thread is awesome!

So cool!

[sparky5693]

You guys never cease to amaze me. Good catch Dennis.

[IsaacRN]

Wow....good reference pictures. Its a 3k chair :)

[Sejanus]

eBay does it again for finding info!

[Scorpio]

If that is not the same chair it is darn close!!!!

Very cool!!!!

Raf

[TraderJoe]

If I buy that chair, who is gonna come over and shave me every morning :rofl

[Queen of Blades]

If I buy that chair, who is gonna come over and shave me every morning :rofl

Don't look at me. :eek:

[Bill]

Wow... Dennis, that's amazing. The reference photos are fantastic. I'm going to email the seller and offer to buy some pictures of the workings of the chair. It is really close to mine, for sure.

I could almost deduce that the possibilities of my chair coming from the same manufacturer could be a plausible possibility. I say that because most Mormon families came from Iowa and Ohio and moved to SLC in the mid 1800's. At least my family roots were from there. I'm trying to dig up a pic of the barber shop from family members.

In the meantime, I dug up a couple of patents. If you go to Google, there is a tab called "more". Under that there is a choice called "patents". That's where I found these. I skimmed over the choices pretty quickly, so I might even find something closer with more research. Here's the one I think is closest for now.

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Here are the other ones. This first one looks like the same framework for the chair.
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This is close, but the rachet assembly for the headrest is a little different.
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Since it looks like the chair is from the late 1800's, I'm going to have to assume my chair was put in the shop after "X" number of years, or that the shop was actually opened later than what my uncle remembers. That could be the case because I know he had a couple of other dates mixed up a little. He's 86, so I'll cut him some slack.

[denmason]

This is really getting better all the time. It's early morning and I'm out the door soon, but can't wait to get home and have a look at these drawings.

[Bill]

The seller (http://myworld.ebay.com/sraygreen/)of the barber chair on ebay was kind enough to send me the following pics. After reviewing them and then studying the hole patterns of missing hardware on my chair, I think a different mechanism was used on mine. At least I'm getting things narrowed down.

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[denmason]

:rofl Hey Bill, they sent me the same photos by email! :rofl
They're probably wondering what the heck is going on here? :confused:

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b127/denmason/IM005540.jpg

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b127/denmason/IM005541.jpg

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b127/denmason/IM005542.jpg

[Bill]

:rofl Hey Bill, they sent me the same photos by email! :rofl
They're probably wondering what the heck is going on here? :confused:I provided him a link to this thread when I first contacted him so he could see all that was going on.

[SSLSTudio...]

Fun thread ...


hope to see the out come on that chair Bill is quite the handyman... :signs021

[PalmettoB]

Like Mystery Theater meets the Antiques Roadshow!

[IsaacRN]

THis is definitely a great thread

[seamus402]

This might be the second best thread ever!

[IsaacRN]

What I want to know is how its working out

[Bill]

What I want to know is how its working outThe shed, my man, the shed. Then the giveaway razor... unless you want I should finish the chair first... ;)

[IsaacRN]

I say do what makes you happy......

A happy crafter makes for happy crafts :P

[bg42]

Bill ,what an excellent piece of family history and I bet there are other relatives just as eager to get their hot little hands on it just as much as you obviously were ,so you are lucky ,very lucky indeed to have it in your possession.
Unfortunately our family are not so big on air looms however I`m in possession of my farther`s violin ,his mother told the relow`s that it was worth $20,000 while she was suffering from dementia ,it really worth about $400, its quite amusing really occasionally relatives that I didn`t even know existed would pop up out of the wood work wanting to meet ,you know chew the fat,and really all they are trying to do is track down the fabled violin .I might sell it to one of them one day ,dad told me to chuck it in the bin.
Anyway ,back to the chair ,that red velvet looks absolutely smick ,to me anyway,so whats it going to be leather or velvet, and now for the $60,000 question ( that bloody violin has gone up by twenty grand already) did you manage to acquire some of his razors
All the best Bill ,some progress pics would be appreciated
Kind regards Peter
PS thats 4 posts