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Sean Harrigan writes:

Hello,

I would like to share a few pictures of what I've
been working on in the class Methods of Fastening.
This chair barely stood on it's own before it was
disassembled.

Each joint had about 4 dowels inserted through the
leg and tenon then out through the other side. 
Fortunately, they were not glued and came out with
some persuasion.  Unfortunately, when the dowels
were inserted valuable wood was removed from the
tenons, which already had been visited upon by the
"wood butcher."

On two joints I completely removed what was left of
the tenon and screwed on new tenons. The others
were widened with mahogany to fit the mortise, and
one was wrapped with cotton trace cloth for a tight
fit. The shell back is cracked but feels solid and has
some sort of metal fastener inside where it was joined.
The rear posts attached to the shell back were also
solid at the joints, and it was evaluated that I would
not disassemble the back.

It appears to me all the joints were hand made, the
back hand carved and also the reeds on the square
tapered curved front legs are hand carved. What I
can't figure out is what style and era this is. I'm
guessing it dates 1860 or earlier? I found this chair's
twin on ebay today, with an upholstered seat and a
buy it now price of $175.

Sean Harrigan
DCTC Class of 2009





















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