My cast iron chairs

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Saturday, July 25. 2015

Remember my post about my inherited rusty 70-lb. 120 year-old cast iron lawn chairs? Well, here are two of them now, after disassembling (had to cut some bolts), sand-blasting, rust-proof and powder-coating with their historic black/green, and then reassembled with new non-rust bolts. All these precious things need now are waterproof seat cushions.

In direct sun, there is a greenish cast but in shade or lower light they appear black. Except for a little old rust pitting, they look almost brand new. You can now read on the underside that they were made in Bridgeport.

Besides rusting to bits, another reason why these sorts of things are so scarce is because of iron-collection drives during WW1.

Posted by Bird Dog in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation at 04:04 | Comments (8) | Trackbacks (0)

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Good Morning, BD…I've been an early morning reader for years….good stuff, thanks….My wife and I own Sew It All….a tailoring/bridal/home decor shop…we mend clothing, but we do a fair share of original home decor…window treatments, slipcovers…and custom chair cushions….most of our clients could spend far less if they shopped retail, but they have discriminating tastes in the pattern and color of a specific fabric type….so we (my wife, Martha) custom design their idea….my point to all this is if you send a swatch of fabric, with the dimensions of the seat of the chair…and the desired height of the cushion…we'll fix you up….consider it payment for all the years of early morning content that you have faithfully provided….if you should take us up the shop address is: Martha's Sew It All, 79 Broadway Street, Concord, NH 03301 http://www.marthassewitall.com … Best to you and Mrs BD.

#1 Michael on 2015-07-25 05:11 (Reply)

wow! ^

and wow, nice chairs ...

It's a shame I see lots of stuff like this at auctions, mostly go to scrap because people don't have the time, energy, money or appreciation for quality old stuff.

#2 fjord on 2015-07-25 06:59 (Reply)

Nice looking chairs, and a good addition to the heirloom collection!

Memories, tradition and a tangible reminder of past generations are worth quite a bit.

#3 ron snyder on 2015-07-25 09:55 (Reply)

I am filled with joy over your restored chairs. They are fabulous and whatever it cost you to bring them back to life---it was worth it. :) I hope they go another 100+ years.

#4 Deborah HH on 2015-07-25 16:47 (Reply)

While I admire the antiquarian impulse, personally, I'd prefer something like this in aluminum.

Heavy cast aluminum with powder coating would be easier to move and less subject to corrosion.

But the iron ones are too good to recycle.

#5 Whitehall on 2015-07-26 04:26 (Reply)

What a wonderful job you did! I'm sure it took time to figure out all the steps, but they are beautiful. fjord made a good point: some simply don't care. Craftsmanship, craftsmanship. {{Which is why your site attracts us.}}

#6 jma on 2015-07-26 08:53 (Reply)

These chairs are very nice. I think it would be a great hobby to restore furniture like this. Look for them at estate sales or on Kijji
and bring them bsck to life. I do not know where you find the time with all the other things you do.
Regardless work well done!

#7 Phil Taylor on 2015-07-26 11:50 (Reply)

I paid a body shop to do the job.

They love doing work like this, for variety.

#7.1 bd on 2015-07-26 16:53 (Reply)

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Saturday, July 25. 2015

My cast iron chairs