Renovating Ercol chairs

[vicky whitworth]

I have acquired four Ercol kitchen chairs from my father. They are in pretty good condition except one has been broken and repaired. I think they date to 1960. They have a British Standard mark under the seats which includes a number in two parts - the first part says 1960. I think they are beech with an elm seat. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them but I'd like to clean them up a bit and give them some tlc. Do you think I could just use soapy warm water to get the dirt off and then some Danish oil? Thanks, Vicky

 

[DJH]

Cold tea for you as well Vicky and a rub of vinegar before you polish them???

Is the lead roof still on the Museum there in Lyme or has someone nicked that as well. :roll:

Doug.

PS I just love old recipes.

 

[Penners]

Do you think I could just use soapy warm water to get the dirt off and then some Danish oil?

I would certainly start with warm, soapy water and a soft scrubbing brush. You'll probably be amazed at how much muck you get off and you might even find that no further treatment is required.

Once the chairs are cleaner and have dried off, you can then get an idea of how damaged the original finish is. In 1960 it would probably have been a cellulose lacquer, which may or may not have been catalysed. If the finish is extensively scratched or peeling, you may have to consider getting it all off before you can refinish the chairs. Sanding it off will take you many hours and several tins of elbow grease, so probably the best solution will be to dissolve it off with cellulose thinners*.

If this doesn't succeed in dissolving the lacquer, then - bad news - it's probably a catalysed finish which is almost impossible to dissolve. In this case I would sand it smooth as much as you can and then refinish with something like a semi-matt acrylic varnish. Ercol products tended to be clear-finished - I presume yours is. If so, you should find a couple of coats of semi-matt clear acrylic varnish over the whole chair should be reasonably successful in blending the areas that still have the old finish and those that don't.

* Don't use this stuff indoors and wear an activated charcoal mask outdoors. It's very high in volatile organic compounds.

 

[DJH]

Penners, as a matter of interest how do you get to putting up part of a quote fro a previous posting in that nice little box. Every time I reply with quote it uses the whole of the posting when all I want is say one sentence like what you've just done...... :?: I've been meaning to ask this for a while now..

Sorry for hijacking your post Vicky.
Doug

 

[Penners]

Doug - click on the "Quote" button in the post that you want to reproduce. The "Post a reply" window will open with all of that post reproduced between the [xxquote] and [/xxquote] tags (I've added the x's to stop it happening here).

Then just delete any part of the quote that you don't want to appear. Make sure you preserve the tags intact.

I hope that makes sense.

 

[DJH]

Good man yerself Penners...

I have tried that but must have deleted those yokes you mention. Can't stop, the rugby's on......

Doug

 

[worms]

...or press the reply first, then on the reply page, scroll down to the earlier post, highlight the text you want, then press the quote button and the selected bit will appear in your reply.

 

[vicky whitworth]

Thank you Penners and Doug. I've washed one chair with soapy water and a scrubber and it was surprising how much dirt came off. On the whole the finish isn't too bad - not very scratched so I've buffed up with Danish oil and it looks good. Stylish in fact.

Doug, I think the lead is still on Lyme museum roof. Went to a talk there last week on East Devon hill forts. Very interesting. Lead on Chardstock church porch has been nicked though. But I think blue tarpaulin is a very attractive alternative

 

[Penners]

the rugby's on

Hell of a tough match, but English discipline won it.

 

[DJH]

Lead on Chardstock church porch has been nicked though. But I think blue tarpaulin is a very attractive alternative

I did it your way this time Worms. Thanks.

Hmm Chardstock Church. I re-roofed the South Nave roof there Vicky along with major repairs to the timber rafters and wall plate and decorated the walls beneath that roof.

I had to include continuous clips under the roof on the sea side of the museum to resist wind lift from gales. It worked!! The roof space above the museum was full to overflowing with pigeons droppings and nesting material. I recovered the turret and finial during the same contract.

Before all the works to incorporate the sewage system I can remember shingle being washed up over the roof of the museum and I think it was a butchers shop next to the Marine Theatre. We used to keep a boat on the beach below Church Cliff. Blimey, that's over 50 years ago!!!. The dances at the Marine were legendary.

Doug

 

[DJH]

That's right Penners but they kind of lost the plot at the start of the second half. When will they stop this nonsense at the scrums. Nobody binds properly, hands go on the floor and when will the ball go in straight so that the hookers (steady now I could be in trouble !!) can do their jobs. Still it's a much better game nowadays.......

Doug

 

[Penners]

Scrums are lumbered with so many damn rules these days that it's almost impossible to get them right first time. And you're right - the ball is always blatantly put in to the scrum half's own team.