From Richard Weigand - Furniture Maker

I found an antique version of a Morris chair in the back room of a local used furniture/antique store. It was broken and missing the dowel that holds the back. The upholstery was all but gone or in tatters. But the basic form and the detail of the carving, … the back adjusting wood pieces and the pull out footstool were all very intriguing. The shop owner was willing to loan it to me to study, as I wanted primarily to see how the footstool was made.

A year later I got to it and in the course of studying it I decided to reproduce the entire chair. I picked out wood from my quarter sawn oak stack and started in. Carving oak is not an easy task as I'm not principally a carver and don't have all the right tools. I used various chisels and gouges I had in the shop, most of which I rarely use. The carving went well and was fun to do for a change. The beefiness of the construction was impressive, as well as the overall lines and design. I used a dye to bring out the old look for the chair, which it did, but then that led to a problem with getting the leather color right. It took ordering 3 different hides of various colors to finally get the one I settled on.

The upholsterer we use who has been covering furniture for 40 years thought the piece was genuinely old and he liked it very much. He did a better than usual job for that reason making the piece a very nice replication.

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