Although this chair is not particularly arts and crafts I do think it has some influence given the spindles...and we could probably all use some positive news anyway given all the depressing things that have happened to people trying to deal with SWF.

I bought this chair for $35 from a guy with a pole barn full of accumulated project furniture. It was a total stripdown including using rust remover on the mechanism. With the work around the spindles and all it took about four months to complete including the holidays when I didn't work on it much. The wheels are antiqued brass reproductions. The finish is two coats of brush on Deft lacquer finish and a coat of black wax. I just used standard 10W30 motor oil on the mechanism. That will probably cause it to pick up more dust over time but it will also stop the rust.

Again, I would love to see other peoples before and after project photos.

I think old oak office furniture can be considered A&C/Mission. It is from the same time period, uses the same wood for the most part, is styled along the same lines, and was/is built to last. I would suppose that if the A&C movement had not changed household furniture the way it did and the period was completely dominated by 'Golden Oak' scrolls, machine carving, and so on, that office furniture would have followed suit (note - technically A&C/Mission was only a fraction of the overall market back then, maybe 20% at its peak for a few years, or something like that). For the most part however, office furniture is dominated by simpler lines and sturdier construction, that had to have been heavily A&C/Mission influenced. One intersting thing about some of these office chairs is how much thought and effort went into bending and shaping the seat, arms, and back so that the chairs are actually somewhat comfortable (should be I guess for office work), even though they have the big and bulky look of Mission. By comparison of course, some household Mission was clearly not designed with comfort in mind or conversely comfort needed to be provided by huge cushions and spring seats (which would have been less practical for regular office furniture). Even after A&C/Mission faded from household tastes, solid oak office furniture persisted until tubular steel and cheaper upholstery took over.

Oh yeah, good job on the chair. I've used some sort of rust proofing coating on steel, that I found at an auto supply place that works pretty good and looks good - dries to an even grey-black colour but goes on milky. Bicycle grease (not oil) would be the best bet for a lube, I would think, because its designed to be exposed while resisting moisture and dirt.

Hello My friend,
I feel you did a very nice job on that chair and as Stonecat stated it does qualify in the mission style of Arts and Crafts furniture.

Respectfully,

Ralph Jones