Bentwood Chair embossed? Seat restoration

[Philipp Jaindl]

Greetings,

New Project: got this nice chair of the Grandparents Attic, now restoring the Frame, which is in decent shape, is fairly straight forward cleaning it up, sanding, filling wormholes with epoxy etc.

Now the Seat is embossed?, if thats the correct term, plywood. Not sure what technique was used at the factory to make these seats and how to go about Restoring it. The Pattern on it is really nice definetly want to preserve and have it show as much as possible.
Has anyone of you folks ever restored one or something similar to it? Any pointers would be much appreciated.

Regards Philipp

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[Jamie Buxton]

I don't know how to fix that seat. But I do know that replacement seats are available. For instance https://www.hardwaretree.com/products.php?cat=Fiber+Chair+Seats+Leather

[Philipp Jaindl]

I've seen that replacements are available, though as said i want to try and preserve the original if possible. thanks at any rate.

[John TenEyck]

I don't see any relief; looks more like it was dyed or fumed. Clean it with mineral spirits, then mild soap and water on a damp cloth if there is still dirt. After that ? Maybe apply shellac by hand to the pattern and then dye the background with water soluble dye, then clear coat the whole thing.

John

[Philipp Jaindl]

Sorry for the late reply i've been kept busy.

The Pattern stands just a hair proud from what i can feel through the dirt. Hesitant to use solvents on the old plywod but I'm probably way too cautious, will try it on a corner and see how that goes. Thanks for the reply John

[John TenEyck]

Mineral spirits is safe on any cured finish and won't hurt the plywood underneath.

John

[Jim Becker]

Mineral spirits is safe on any cured finish and won't hurt the plywood underneath.

John
True, but I've moved to naptha instead because it leaves less "oily stuff" behind than many of the mineral spirits selections available.

[John TenEyck]

True, but I've moved to naptha instead because it leaves less "oily stuff" behind than many of the mineral spirits selections available.

Whatever you prefer. The point is neither is harmful to a cured finish and do a good job of cleaning grease and grime off surfaces to reveal what's underneath.

John

[Philipp Jaindl]

Alright it cleaned up a lot better than i hoped, the pattern very good shape, bit more cleaning then a nice finish over it and we're good i'd say. Thanks for the help

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[John TenEyck]

That's looking pretty good, and a new finish on top should really bring out the contrast now.

John