Hello Ken,
No, I did not receive one from you as I looked in my old mail and in the trapped email that sometimes catches an email address that it does not recognize.

Respectfully,

Ralph Jones Ralj7@AOL.com

For the fibreless roof coeating, we are not finding anything called that. What else might it be called? And by roof-coating, do you mean the black tar looking stuff?

ok, we got this..i hope this is what we need?
107 henry's Asphalt Emulsion

* Versatile protective roof and waterproofing coating
* Best-value, all-purpose
* Use with Henry 195 or 196 polyester for complete roof restoration
* Use with Henry Monolithic Roof Systems
* Solvent-free, non-fibered black asphalt
* Waterproof, non-alligatoring
* Coat composition, metal and smooth-surface built-up roofs
* For concrete, masonry, steel tanks
* ASTM D1227 Type III, Class I
* Coverage: 3.0 gallons/square per coat

Hello Ken,
Your in there bud now you can get started.
I think that you might want to try this mixture out on another wood of the same species and sanded to the same as the piece you are going to finally use it on.

Respectfully,

Ralph Jones

please don't use roofing tar on a Limbert

that is so wrong

Hello Friend guest,
I would like to inform you that the tar is not put on the piece alone and I agree with you that doing it would ruin it if that is all that is used.
The formula is as follows; 1/4 pint of the roof coating to one quart of red oak stain will give you the same color as a piece that is fumed without the fumes. Believe me I have been refinishing furniture for years and it will not harm the value in any way.

I am attaching a picture of a 1930 circa walking cane show case that I reproduced because the termites destroyed the original.

The finish was with the stain that I just mentioned along with 7 coats of tung Oil.

Respectfully,

Ralph Jones

there have been severalarticles in top wood magazines about the asphalt/stain mix.

probably better than straight tar is a sherwin williams product called gilsonite wiping stain. this is asphalt based, and mixed with other oil stains should give the desired result.

this is not available in their retail stores, you have to find a sherwin williams commercial products outlet.

i talked to the john at jcdreamlight antiques, he said given the condition of the finish, but more importantly the repair to the slat and patch to the top stretcher, he said it now has minimal value. a good refinish could only help.

if you decide to completely stip, i would suggest sanding the back of the stretcher with the patch as smooth as possible and fit a piece of veneer on the whole back surface, sanding to blend at the bottom and top into the curve. this would look much better than the patch and may also add to the value.

john said if brought into his shop, he would be hard pressed to offer $100 in current condition.

he had a pair of rockers currently still shown on his site for $1200 and took $1000 for both. they were in very good condition with original finish.

sorry i couldnt give you better news.

At this point, here's my 2 cents

The finish has been confirmed as shellac. The first picture honestly doesn't look too bad. The subsequent pictures however show runs and mixed colour. So lets' assume it's been overcoated a long time ago. The original colour for the chair would likely have been from fuming - Limbert was known for this (it's described in the Limbert catalogue reprints). So I'm going to offer the suggestion don't do any new staining of any kind, except for the replaced stretcher and patch. I would suggest a simple wipe down of the shellac using a rag with thinner, no steel wool or other abrasive pad unless there is a particularly thick area, to remove the drip lines, even up the depth, and even up the colour. Some spots probably need no wiping at all. The net result is a cutting back of the overcoat as needed, with as much preservation of the original finish as possible, and no change whatsoever to the original stain. This would be the most sympathetic restoration to the original (in its assumed condition with an overcoat) and there's no harm in trying this first because its easy. If it works, wax it and enjoy it. If it doesn't look good however, strip it all and then decide if it needs any staining or not, or just a new finish. As far as new finish, I've said it before so maybe I sound like a broken record - the proper historical finish is spit coats of shellac and a good wax and buff, nothing else.

The patch thingy is a tough call. I would prefer to have as much of the original face and finish showing instead of veneer, but just do a good job of finishing the patch and minimizing the appearrance. The patch tells some of the history of the chair, so leave it to be seen. A full veneer job would look suspicious to me, like maybe two or three repairs hiding underneath or a big crack, not to mention it's more work.

..well maybe 5 cents

Thanks for the feeback Don. I would assume that John likely marks things up 100-200%, so if he would buy it for $100 as is, I would assume he would sell it for $300? Does that sound about right? I am surprised though that just a rough finish and one repair devalues it so much. I know around here (in oregon) antique stores sell unsigned mission oak chairs for $795, and a signed Limbert (when you can even find one) for no less than $1000....so does one repair like this really devalue a chair by that much? I mean could someone typically walk into an antique store and buy this chair for $100-$300 where you are or John is? I wonder if the prices are just that much higher out here...
BTW, i bought it from Haymarket Antiques in Lincoln, Ne over the internet. Needless to say, they did not disclose the patch in the rail, or the refinish. And i did ask before i paid them for the chair ($595), so buyer beware when shopping with them...hard lesson learned. I can either send it back for a refund and lose $200 in shipping or keep it. Am not a happy camper needless to say.

Thanks for the advice Stonecat. I am not sure what i am going to do at this point. Right now i am 'practicing' on a project chair since I have never done anything like this. I think i will do a lot of practicing before doing anything more than appying wax to the Limbert chair