Century Old Maple Courtroom Chairs Makeover

Maple Chair Before

Maple Chair After

This is one of two courtroom style chairs that were once owned by a
friend’s grandfather and used in his print shop. We estimate the chairs to be approximately one-hundred years old (possibly older).

He had been wanting to get these chairs refinished for years, but finally got around to it approaching last Christmas as a gift for his wife (it belonged to her grandfather) to surprise her. Evidently he had them hung in his garage for over fifteen years after they had relocated to their current farm house on nine acres of land.

These chairs were very sturdy, made of solid maple which was hard to see beneath so many years of oxidation and grime. It never ceases to amaze me how gorgeous wood is hidden under all that worn finish and dirt. I was pleasantly surprised that once the chairs had been completely stripped and sanded to discover the wood was actually light and could be stained a lighter stain per his request. I have been using “gunstock” stain on a few projects lately and found it is one of my new favorite stain color choices. It is a mid-tone color with warm, rich tones, much like cinnamon and brown sugar (makes me think of cookies). It works well with any type of wood, depending on how light you prefer it to be. I used it on a very long handrail in my own home and it matches the existing railing and woodwork perfectly. If I ever get around to refinishing the stairs and railing, that will be my color choice for stain.

While the chairs were is great shape with a very solid structure, the only thing I had to repair was one of the chairs’ back section (behind the slats) had been popping out of their spots which required the wood to be removed, reshaped and glued before pushing back into place. Once the glue was dry, I gently sanded the area and filled in the small spaces with matching filler. After it was stained and polyurethane was applied, you couldn’t even see where the damage had been. I did it and it took close inspection to see where those spots were broken through. The end result was two lovely refinished chairs in a lighter tone that displayed the beautiful wood grain.