Herman Miller DCM chair rehab and perhaps some more useful information...

I have been so very far behind in posting or even catching up on posts from others it's almost embarrasing. The good news is that we have been so busy at the store and with rehabbing and refinishing that I haven't had the time!

Second post for the day and a bit of catch up while it's still fresh.

 

Had a customer contact me a week or two ago about an Eames style chair that the back kept falling off from. I was thinking a lounge chair and how could that be? Bring it by and I'll take a look at the problem. Well, he stopped in about 5 days ago and the problem was pretty obvious. Not a lounger but a vintage DCM that someone had attempted to repair probably multiple times without much success.

 

 

The shock mounts had broken loose from the back and seat at some point and it appears someone had tried to use some Gorilla glue to reseat. I would definetely NOT recommend this adhesive as it tends to expand and bubble outside the project area and obviouly not strong enough anyway.

The repair may a mess of the finish and the chair needed a complete rehab. Quoted a price and here we go!

Above you can see what appears to be a date stamp and looking closely you can see DCM embossed into the wood above it. The chair appears to be all original with stainless steel rod legs that need a cleaning but otherwise in good shape and all the original leg ends were intact. I thought the chair would pop more in a different finish but the customer wanted back in the original black. I'm grateful in hindsight as some of the original black was pretty heavily inbedded in the wood and some pretty obvious factory fills. Likely why it hit the black line! Still very structurally sound.

 

 

Lots of scrapping off the old glue and the first sand. I could actually see the original symmetrical clamp marks from the bending process which I pretty much, though not totally eliminated during the final sanding.

 

 

 

                                     

 

After cleaning up the rubber shocks it was apparent that there was no way to attach the shocks back to the back in their proper place unless they were already mounted to the frame. I didn't want to put a finish between the shocks and the frame that would break loose, so these had to be glued into place on the bare wood. Necessity is the mother of invention it is said and and I'm a believer. I'm always having to come up with creative solutions to resolve different problems!

 

 

I decided on a two part epoxy glue made by Lock-tite that was supposed to be good for 3200 lbs. Messy stuff to work with but it turned out to be a good choice. Twenty four hours after my impromtu clamp job and everything seemed to be holding nicely. Time to start on the refinish!

 

 

The glue job turned out better than expected and the squeeze out under the shocks sanded off pretty easily. Taped out the shocks and the date stamp (I always try and retain original factory marks). I told my customer that I would try and replicate the wood grains showing as best I could to match the original. I have to admit, I was outside my comfort level at this point and was crossing my fingers that I could actually pull this off!

One coat of black satin lacquer left just the right amount of grain showing through and I top coated with two coats of semi-gloss clear with a final coat of satin clear to knock down the glossyness just a tad and here's the finished product with a good 0000 steelwool and lacquer thinner cleaning on the frame before installing the seat and back.

 

 

Yes, I did under quote this particular project for the time and materials but I absolutely love the way it turned out! Although my customer was hurried he seemd to love the end result and a good reference for future work and I've learned along the way. Hard to put a price on that!

 

Next up another learning curve with how to remove finish from the "new" Heywood-Wakefield furniture!