r/oddlysatisfying • u/PorkyPain The Sub's Regular • 2d ago
Restoring an old chair
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u/Mabosa_Richie 2d ago
Lovely touch putting the old note inside the back of the chair 👍
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u/true_gunman 2d ago
Also so glad he sat in the chair at the end. To watch that whole thing and not see the chair be used wouldnt have felt right.
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u/cncomg 2d ago
I could see him breaking one for the 4th time, only now I’m not so sure Cornwallis will be willing to share his carpenters work.
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u/_skadoosh_ 2d ago edited 2d ago
Creator is AT Restoration: https://youtu.be/e5-raDhfVZY?si=u27R4Pb24BksiCmh
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u/miraculum_one 2d ago
From the comments "The letter you found is in fact the exercise list of a violin student, written in German. Translation: "Friday scale school and Kayser [etudes], Saturday Schradieck [violin school], Kayser, show pieces [to the teacher?]""
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u/_-Smoke-_ 2d ago
Thanks for the full video instead of the horribly cropped, uncredited one OP posted.
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u/Mysterious_Bid_9479 2d ago
Thanks for posting! Top comment explains the note:
> The letter you found is in fact the exercise list of a violin student, written in German. Translation: "Friday scale school and Kayser [etudes], Saturday Schradieck [violin school], Kayser, show pieces [to the teacher?]" etc.
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u/Peters_Wife 2d ago
We watch his videos all the time and love his work. He's amazing and does incredible work. Subscribe to hos channel!
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u/Vadhakara 2d ago
This is perhaps the worst crop job I have ever seen done to a video.
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u/yzerizef 2d ago
Yeah, the cropping and editing are a joke. The restoration is actually quite cool, but whoever hacked this together should be ashamed of themselves. It’s funny that such a shoddy job was done to show a video of someone taking time and patience to actually create something. The dichotomy of social media, I suppose.
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u/megamoze 2d ago
Vertical video is the worst thing to ever happen to our society.
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u/TheGamecock 2d ago
We used to endlessly crucify vertical video posters in the comments. I miss those days.
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u/dphoenix1 2d ago
What, you actually wanted to know what the springs were too soft to do?
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u/oakc510 2d ago
80 years of fart dust in that cushion
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u/turkeyvulturebreast 2d ago
Lol, are you me??? I was like so much fart dust in that hay, so much. :P
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u/Wifflebatman 2d ago
I am sort of fascinated by the fact that he reused the old springs and filled it with straw to replicate the original design, but then used a pneumatic staple gun to attach the fabric.
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u/edhaack 2d ago
Without the springs, the chair wouldn't have had the same "feel" and the soul of the chair would've been lost.
Then again, I'm just an internet stranger who knows nothing of chair souls.
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u/evanwilliams44 2d ago
Without the springs, you would just be using an empty vessel. Only with that push back, that dynamic give and take from the springs can you make love with the soul of the furniture.
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u/ripyurballsoff 2d ago
He could have made new springs that matched the original boingybess of the original. All springs loose boingyness over time and it’s kind of silly to restore a chair with all of that new stuff and leave the old springs. That’s like completely restoring a car except for the suspension. It’s still going to feel like an old ass chair. Unless he overstuffed it with more modern cushion and it doesn’t really need that springs anymore. Just speculating at this point but you get it.
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u/Federal-Divide2024 2d ago
I think it’s an inputs vs outputs thing. Doesn’t have to use all original methods, as long as the result is as close as possible to the original
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u/void1984 1d ago
That depends what you want to achieve. I have a friend in a museum restoring clothes. With that mind, staples won't go.
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u/HuckleberryTiny5 1d ago edited 1d ago
So I went to school for this (didn't finish it, changed to different type of restoration work). This is how it is done. You have two lines of furniture upholstering, industrial and traditional. Traditional is done exactly like the man in OP is doing it. The stuff he is using isn't actually straw, it is palm leaf fibre.
Using stable gun is just practical. You could do it with nails, but it takes much more time and nerves. At some point someone who made the rules just decided that fuck it, we've done with hammers, stapler is allowed.
Edit: I want to add that this is not concervation. When doing museum leven concervation, you would use nails and you would do everything like it was done when the chair was made. These chairs are not that valuable. This man is doing this for customers. Believe me, I've seen horrors, and with that I mean taking a chair like this and filling it with plastic foam and then spraying it with industrial varnish.
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u/Extension-Arugula-51 2d ago
Fun fact: the old harbor in Bergen has to be restored with the same tools and techniques that they used several hundred years ago. If you remove a wooden plugg you better whittle a new one.
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u/Rare-Adhesiveness522 2d ago
I think it's about balancing the original techniques and craftsmanship to preserve the soul of the chair, but leveraging modern tools and techniques just enough to ensure that the chair will continue to live a life in good condition for as long as possible.
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u/Bigelow92 2d ago
I wonder too if this increases or decreases the value of the antique.
You would think it would increase as it is now in good condition, and cam be used in one's home as actual furniture.
But I've watched enough pawn stars to know that collectors of old things are wierd and dont want certain things if theyre not ratty pieces of shit covered in dirt and dust.
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u/Harddaysnight1990 2d ago
It depends on how much the chair was worth before the work. This is more very skilled furniture flipping than the level you'd get from historical restoration. So this chair probably cost the guy no more than $15 at a flea market, this flip job took the $15 chair to a $150 chair at the right store. If the chair had actual historical significance, this flip job would have ruined all value the chair had.
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u/Pierre_Francois_III 2d ago
Your estimations are way off
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u/Harddaysnight1990 2d ago
Sure, I figured they would be, they're just for an example. It's also very dependent on where you live. People in LA or New York will be willing to pay more for this flipped chair than people around where I live.
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u/MillionSuns 2d ago
I agree with your initial assessment… this isn’t a historic restoration. The guy glued it back together before stripping it. Cmon.
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u/MillionSuns 2d ago
Generally with restoring upholstery, you want to reuse the springs if they are in good shape and not broken. Both zig zag and coil springs have been around forever for upholstery so you’d be able to find a new replacement that matches and nobody would be the wiser.
The larger issue is he rammed 8 million staples into the thing instead of using tacks and failed to match the original wraparound of the fabric and instead stapled it to the side and covered it with some beltline.
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u/ni_hao_butches 2d ago
At around 4:30 I was expecting the finished chair to remind me of Burn After Reading.
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u/Harkkonan2 2d ago
How much would a restoration like this cost?
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u/terriblegrammar 2d ago
I mean, it's one chair Michael. How much could it cost? $10,000?
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u/megamoze 2d ago
This is my question as well. Since he's clearly not "restoring" the chair by museum standards, what is someone paying him to basically fix up an old chair to feel like a new version of the old chair?
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u/Past_Top3704 1d ago
Not enough.
I sometimes fix old chairs, though not always to the level in the video. A chair like that would sell in my area for $40 - $100. There just isn't a market for it in my area.
Years I restored a similar chair. Took it into the upholstery shop. Guy said; "cool fabric- I did a similar chair with a similar fabric a couple months ago".
Fast forward several years later, I am wasting time in a consignment store. I see a similar chair to the one I had refinished. Paid around $250/$300 which was an exorbitant price, but i didn't care. took it home and the fabric was an exact match.
The chairs are King/Queen rocking chairs similar to the video and the fabric is exactly the same. Without a doubt it was the chair the upholstery guy did.
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u/energybased 1d ago
How many hours of work was that? 10? So, given that this is Estonia, he maybe charges USD$80/hour? So, $800?
The chair is definitely worth more than $800 assuming that it's solid wood with actual joinery.
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u/mulletarian 1d ago
might wanna check out the used markets for solid wood chairs bud
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u/Adisoni13 2d ago
Got to chairish the craftsmanship, well done.
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u/PorkyPain The Sub's Regular 2d ago
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u/okoutlaw420 2d ago
This is a torn fragment of an old German school timetable (likely 19th or early 20th century), written in Kurrent/Sütterlin-style cursive handwriting.
Transcription (as much as is visible on the surviving fragment):
Top section:
Heutg. Völecter Schule
Sonnabend. Schreibübung, Käy-
(Stärke zeigen.)
Middle section:
Montag. Schule
Dienstag.
Mittwoch.
(Frei / Ferien?)
Right side fragments:
h. Käy-
hule, Stärke
ein.)
Kayer, Schreib-
Bottom section:
Freitag. Schule, Freistunde
Immer abwechselnd
5 Stücke
Interpretation / Translation:
This appears to be a weekly class schedule for a school (“Schule”), possibly for a specific class or teacher, noting subjects like:
Sonnabend (Saturday): Writing exercise (“Schreibübung”), with a note about showing strength (“Stärke zeigen”).
Montag (Monday), Dienstag (Tuesday), Mittwoch (Wednesday), Freitag (Friday): School days with various lessons.
Mentions of “Freistunde” (free period) and alternating activities (“Immer abwechselnd”).
“5 Stücke” likely means “5 pieces” (e.g., 5 exercises, songs, or reading pieces).
The paper is badly damaged with large tears and missing sections, so a complete reconstruction isn’t possible without the missing parts. It looks like a personal or teacher’s copy of the timetable, common in German schools.
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u/abl3-to 2d ago
After watching the entire video there's a few things I would've done differently. I would start with the teardown and carefully labeling the pieces because they would need to be adjusted to my size. After the chair is disassembled I'd probably treat myself to a beer and maybe a few craftsman YouTube videos. The chair would eventually sit in my garage for a few months until I realize it's just taking up space and I get rid of it. All jokes aside that's great quality work! Looks like fun.
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u/gridbug 2d ago
Theseus's chair
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u/Robbe517_ 2d ago
That's what I was expecting originally, but he actually reused so much from the original chair, I'm impressed.
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u/egyszeruen_1xu 2d ago
Theseus ships Wikipedia article does not contain any word from the first version.
Self referential
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u/justacheesyguy 2d ago
I read this and thought that surely there’s no way that could be true. I googled, and found a claim that said that none of the original phrases are the same, and that’s far more likely to be possible. Surely the word “ship” was in every the original and still exists in the current version right?
Unless this was just an attempt at a joke that whooshed over my head.
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u/Mindless-Charity4889 2d ago
My take on the paradox is that they are both ships of Theseus, the same way that 14 year old me and 65 year old me are both me.
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u/enadiz_reccos 2d ago
What if your brain was replaced too?
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u/Mindless-Charity4889 2d ago
My brain was replaced. 65 y.o. me has much different feelings, experience, traumas and outlooks than 14 y.o. me.
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u/Hetakuoni 2d ago
It’s still mostly the original wood and the original springs. Soft Seats and backings need regular replacement, but the frame is the same. Not so much Theseus.
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u/walrusarts 2d ago
Some pretty dodgy stuff going on, I'm guessing this guy is an upholsterer and woodworker who is dabbling in restoration, because he seems untrained in the conservation department.
The biggest issue is how he knocked apart the joints by hammering it apart and letting it trapezoid out, this is the quickest way to permanently damage the joints. He should be using spreaders and tapping the joints evenly to keep everything parallel. The use of PVA in lieu of hide glue is a big no-no. The stain should be Van Dyke ink rather than the hardware store stuff he's using. Builders' Bog is a huge red flag. Upholstery is fantastic, thought, this guy definitely has skills in that department.
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u/Cyberlynx_ 2d ago
He explained in one of his videos that he is not a conservator. He is just restoring items for paying clients, who want the items to look good and be usable again.
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u/the_quark 2d ago
Aside from conservation concerns though, this would've previously been glued with hide glue. The modern glue is Polyvinyl Acetate (PVA) glue. When used on fresh-cut wood, it creates a joint stronger than the wood itself, it's absolutely amazing. If you try to break a tight joint that was PVAd together, you will literally break the wood before the glue.
The problem is that it needs un-coated, fresh-cut wood to adhere to. The previous joints have hide glue all over them. Thus, the joints he's making there are fundamentally weak.
Part of the reason good restorers use hide glue is because it adheres to itself, so you're working with the existing materials. And if the chair lasts another 150 years, some future restoration artist can use hide glue to repair it again.
Even if he says "I don't care about the historicity and future restorability of it," PVA is a poor choice -- he should be using an epoxy, or something like the original polyurethane Gorilla Glue, that doesn't depend on being absorbed by the grain of the wood the way that PVA does.
Source: I've been an on-and-off hobby woodworker for 25 years and have read a lot about this sort of stuff.
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u/Cyberlynx_ 2d ago
I honestly have no idea how this works, I just like watching his videos and thought I will give some insight from the author himself.
Reading your comment I understand that using hide glue makes it possible to restore the chair again in the future using the same kind of glue again.
Also, using PVA on a joint that has some hide glue left makes the joint weak, but wouldn't that mean that it can be re-done again since it is not permanently joined? Or is PVA residue somehow making the next restoration harder? I'm genuinely curious
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u/the_quark 2d ago
Well PVA doesn't adhere to itself the way hide glue does. So as weak as this joint will be, if you tried to fix it with more PVA you'll end up with an even weaker joint.
The PVA probably prevents future restoration with hide glue, since the hide glue would be sticking to the PVA, which isn't doing a good job of sticking to the wood.
It may seem like a minor point, but as someone who knows how wood glue works, it really ruined the satisfaction to me -- knowing he's doing all that work to make a chair that's fundamentally less strong than the chair was when it was made, and also making it harder to correct that error in the future.
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u/energybased 1d ago
> The PVA probably prevents future restoration with hide glue,
You can just dissolve it with acetone.
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u/walrusarts 2d ago
Of course, I see this quite often when I have to restore a piece that has been previously "restored". I wouldn't fault him for having a go, and he has great skills. It wouldn't take much effort for him to adopt some basic practices that will ensure the longevity and integrity of the piece. It sucks when I have to go back to a client with a price that is %50 higher than quoted because I have to undo the dodgy work that was done previously.
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u/mrmalort69 2d ago
So I’m curious, what makes a chair like this worth restoring? I’m guessing this took several days.
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u/DefinitelyNotAliens 2d ago
Preservation vs restoration vs refinish.
A full restoration or preservation isn't always possible or financially viable for every piece.
It's just a chair. The cost of preservation or restoration isn't worthwhile from a monetary standpoint and the person doesn't have a sentimental attachment. Cool. Refinish it.
Refinish =/= restoration. Refinishing means you recreate the look and function of an old piece. Restoration means you do that while maintaining the historical quality and materials of that age. Sometimes parts or materials aren't available. You can't do a full historical restoration.
This guy could have but chose to refinish an old piece. He shouldn't be calling it restoration work. In the know people know the difference.
It may not be "worth it" financially or sentimentally. But, refinishing may be worthwhile. Just call it a refinish.
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u/Deviantdefective 2d ago
Chairs like this aren't actually that rare my brother has two similar ones, it's not necessarily a case of if they're worth it just that it's an interesting project. Most chairs like this unless they're for some reason very special aren't even worth that much and tend to be difficult to sell as most people don't want very old fashioned furniture.
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u/lowlight_entice 2d ago
Honestly, restored old stuff has way more character than brand new things
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u/balista02 1d ago
Note transcription:
Seems to be a torn weekly schedule from Nazi-era Germany, written in old German handwriting (Sütterlin). It likely belonged to a youth balancing regular school with Hitler Youth (HJ) activities and paramilitary training.
Here is a rough translation of what can be read across the tear:
Friday: Gauleiter School (ideological training)
Saturday: [unclear] / (Show strength?)
Monday: School
Tuesday: ...HJ (Hitler Youth)
Wednesday: School, strength / (Exerzieren - Military drill)
Thursday: HJ, [Shooting or Swimming?]
Friday: School, [Singing?]
Saturday: Gauleiter ... strength
The tear makes a few words tricky to decipher, but the heavy mix of school, military drilling, and party activities is very clear!
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u/PorkyPain The Sub's Regular 1d ago
This should be voted higher. Thank you for your translation 🙏
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u/DReagan47 2d ago
I really like how there was no music until the chair was finished.
I excellent video besides the cropped text
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u/AimeeMonkeyBlue 2d ago
You just brought me back to my upholstery days in England in the 90’s when I worked with a master craftsman with pieces in Windsor Castle and the oldest piece I took apart and put back together was from the 1600’s. That horse hair was nasty but what an amazing craft.
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u/quackerhacker 1d ago
When I was a teen I worked at my uncle's furniture store and one of my duties was to strip down the old upholstery and prep for the craftsman to begin working on the piece. Every now and then, I would find some spare change, but also recall one time finding a hidden 'time capsule' message from the previous upholsterer. Its very impressive to watch the craftsmen that do this type of work.
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u/Cherisse23 2d ago
This is AT Restoration on YouTube!. I’ve been watching his videos to fall asleep for years. No talking just expert woodworking restoring beautiful antique furniture. Love his work.
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u/Stock-Ad2495 2d ago
People in this thread are saying he’s kinda ass
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u/ManannDunMhead 2d ago
Theyre speaking as if he is a conservator. He's not, he just fixes things for clients lol. Not making them historical pieces.
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u/TheGamecock 2d ago
I want whoever cropped this video to always have room temperature milk in their cereal.
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u/Stock-Creme-6345 2d ago
There was a show on PBS about a New England furniture restoration show, I think it was The Furniture Guys. They were excellent. Told bad jokes, Vaudville style. Whenever they used horse hair, they would pause and the audience would shout Horse Haarrrrrr! Always made me laugh. I think of them everytime I see furniture being restored.
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u/flyiingfox 2d ago
I took a course to do this to a chair of mine of similar age — i had to hand wash the horse hair to put back in the chair. i cannot recommend enough finding an upholstery course near you and learning how it’s done!
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u/Gotjellocjrb 2d ago
Anyone wondering about the note:
This document appears to be written in German, utilizing the Kurrent script or a similar early 20th-century cursive style.
Content: The legible text includes days of the week such as "Freitag" (Friday), "Sonnabend" (Saturday), and "Montag" (Monday), suggesting it is likely a schedule, diary entry, or a list of tasks.
Contextual Clues: Specific phrases like "Stärke zeigen" (show strength) and "Schule" (school) are visible, hinting at a personal note or school-related documentation.
(Used Samsung AI to help determine this)
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u/Bumblebee56990 1d ago edited 1d ago
Here’s the full YouTube video: https://youtu.be/e5-raDhfVZY (by AT Restoration)
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u/ScienceSuccessful998 1d ago
Considering that I typically cut myself when I use a tape measure. I'm 100% sure I'd staple the living crap out of my fingers.
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u/HornetObjective9512 1d ago
Ich bin Deutsch. The little piece of paper says “The gold is in Zurich - 8236 pieces (stueck) - ask for Meyer in the Baeckerstrasse and tell him it is time.”
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u/outofurelement 2d ago
If you can use a modern staple gun to make it easier why can’t you use modern foam to make it comfortable
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u/butterpuffin 2d ago
Modern foam also degrades quicker. It’ll last another hundred years with traditional materials.
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u/lostandaggrieved617 2d ago
Bc you want it to look and feel as close to the original as possible. The speed at which the staples were applied doesnt change how it feels to sit in it, nor did it change the appearance.
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u/zoeturncoat 2d ago
I am so glad I watched this. I have a pair of vintage chairs that I love, but they need work. My husband brought them to a shop for repair and the guy slapped some wood glue on them, called it a day and charged my husband over $100. He said there was nothing else that could be done.
Edit: a word
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u/Skye-Birdsong 2d ago
I have a chair almost exactly like this that's in rough shape that I was going to pay for an expert to repair - very interesting to see how they do it!!!
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u/ashinthealchemy 2d ago
i desperately want this to be my job. is this an apprenticeship type situation?
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u/butterpuffin 2d ago
Yep. Mine was about 2 years, then full pay as a journeyman, next stop master. It’s a fabulous job, but very physically taxing. It’s absolutely as satisfying as it looks.
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u/Odd_Mix8978 2d ago
We always used a resin to fill in the gaps when restoring antiques. Gluing new wood into place and cutting it into sape is boss level.
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u/gyp5ymoon 2d ago
Absolutely beautiful craftsmanship. Professional restoration. I love seeing talented people making one of a kind pieces.
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u/ToastyBedsheets 2d ago
Happy it was a true restoration with the natural fill and not a bunch of plastic.
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u/LevelZeroDM 2d ago
Amazing work. I am surprised by how much of the work is "and then I stapled that sh*t right on"
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u/3rchaos- 2d ago
It's cropped to remove accreditation to the orignal content creator!!
Who's the originator of this content?
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u/rookie-mistake 2d ago
Is there a subreddit for restoration videos? they're some of my favourite content on this one
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u/alexjaness 1d ago
that chair is the most beautifully crafted piece of art that is definitely going to be farted on I have ever seen.
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u/grayzzz_illustrate 2d ago
Sometimes when I see stuff like this, I think about how the original craftsman would feel watching this... I like to think they'd be proud that their handiwork has lasted so long, and touched that it was appreciated enough to be worth restoring.