I found this rocker in a garage sale and was told that for years it had been in the attic of The Myrtles (Louisiana haunted antebellum home). In the picture it looks solid – but it was a multi-directional rocker – back and forth; sideways; and in circles – any direction you wanted. The board at the top of the back was nailed into the material and was attached to the chair’s back posts only with a 2” metal plate with screws. I gambled that once I removed the covering I would find remnants of a mission style back with slats. I lost



I found probably 4 levels of previous “repair”. At the core of the back was a structure that was anything but Mission and was a very “antique” repair itself with a burlap sugar bag, piece of tin, and hay.





The bottom/seat of the chair had been totally remade with an extension behind to hold up the back; and the seat was attached to the chair sides only by the two metal bolts. The wood of the bottom/seat is so old and soft that I can peel it off with my finger nails – several of the many long nails I pulled out with my fingernails. The front of this piece is oak, but it looks like it was just nailed in there for looks.





The back is not attached to the bottom/seat. Half the springs are rusted and broken




I have taken apart the oak sides of the chair and they are in good shape and have cleaned up and stained very well. Those plywood inserts under the arm rests, all by themselves, disintegrated into strips and layers within an hour of removal – I have already made slats to replace it.

On the inside of the top of the two back posts are dowel holes that make me believe that, at one point in time, this chair did have a back rather than the thing that you see in the pictures.

I, a weekend DYIer, could really use some advice as to what to do now. What would you specialist do with this chair? Garbage can is out of the question except for the piece of tin and the hay.

Thank you, Charolette