Ok, I am REALLY excited about this piece I just aquired. I have been wanting an antique mission rocker with the side slats, and just got one! Now just gotta talk my wife into finding room for all these mission rockers in our home, or get a bigger lol. Can anyone ehlp identity who the maker of this chair might be?

Looks fairly generic. Is there any evidence whatsoever of a paper label or anything, under the seat or arms, or on the back? You have to consider that there were literally dozens and dozens of furniture factories back then and the odds of being able to identify a piece without a mark are slim and the chance of it being a first or second tier maker are even slimmer. This is why even though your Limbert looks rough and maybe valuation isn't through the roof, the fact that it is what it is, means be cautious with the restoration approach.

The book you want is "The Pegged Joint, Restoring Arts & Crafts Furniture and Finishes"

http://stickleymuseumshop.safeshopper.com/13/101.htm?228

Perhaps this would be a good chair to restore first....the finish is original but is about half gone and actually flaking off in many places....I will get some good closeups and post them in a little while.

Ok, here are more pics of my 'prohect' chair. I am going to use Ralph's recommendation for the Limbert chair on this one (the roof sealer/red oak mixture).
This is definately nowhere near the quality of the Limbert rocking chair. The posts and rockers are only about half as thick is the Limbert Rocker
As for the manufacturer, there is just a red label, half torn off, the bottom of which says 'wholesale furniture'. Also there are a couple of screws that seem original(see photo), does this give an indication as to who/what/when the chair may have been made? I did not think they used screws in this type of furniture back then.
The previous owner said it was his Dad's rocker, who bought in when they owned there old house, sometime between 1906-1920.
Thanks for any feedback anyone may give.

Good pics

I've got a data base going of hundreds of marks (as you may have gathered reading older messages) but nothing for a wholesaler that looks like this. The closest would be Heywood Brothers who used a similar rectangle with red border but I wouldn't count on it here.

Screws were actually fairly common so no big surprise here. Only the best makers limited the number of srews used but they had to use them for some things like attaching table tops to bases. Most of the generic makers were more liberal with screws and screwing the back end of arms to the back posts was common, by a couple different methods.

In this case, I don't think I would hesitate on the stripping. It looks to have lots of moisture/humidity damage, plus the flaking you mentioned, and this usually means you have to bring it right down. I think its a generic piece so in this case a good refinish will help. You might want to test that stain brew on something else before the chair. If after stripping the colour looks nice and even I would say don't stain at all - keep it as original as possible, the way the factory made it. I guess I just like to see history preserved instead of changed, whenever possible.
I'm thinking that stain brew is actually intended for new unfinished wood anyways, and not as a restoration stain.

THanks for the advice. I spent a few hours this afternoon and have it about 20% stripped. Any opinion of the quality of the chair or likely time period? And screws?

Same time period, 1905-1915. The movement started around 1900 - most makers were geared up and copying Stickley by 1905 - Limberts first catalogue was 1903 I think - the peak was about 1910-1913 - Gus Stickley went bankrupt in 1915 - end of the war in 1918 styles really started to change, and by 1925 all but finished (minor resurgence in the 30s).

The quality of this one is pretty typical of the mass produced pieces of many makers. Look at it this way - the quality is good enough for it to have survived almost 100 years. Clean it up and it will hold its value and last another 100 or more.

opps, i completely skipped over what you said about the screws..my bad. Thanks for that info

No, I finished the message then re-read yours and then I edited it, haha

Ken. ask around here and see what the opinion is about Homer Formby's antique furniture restorer varnish/shellac/lacquer remover. I used it on a similar chair and it took off the nasty shiny flaking shellac and varnish and left a great clean finish. It didn't harm the wood or the finish and cleaned right up. Left the patina too. Be careful as it stinks(do it outside or in your garage as it will stink out the house, it has wicked nasty chems in it so wear a respirator!) reubber gloves and use a green pad scruby pad type sponge. Works great! Don't rub too hard! Then I used Formby's lemon oil and it looks great and smells good too! (THIS IN NO WAY IS AN ADVERT FOR FORMBY'S PRODUCTS BUT IT WAS ALL I COULD FIND, EVEN NORM ON YANKEE WORKSHOP USES IT)
GOOD LUCK!

Ok, well here is the chair after 12 hours of stripping.....should it normally take that long, or maybe i will get faster since this was my first? I had to use laquar remover, minreral spirits and shellac remover, None of them worked very well, finally got some regular stripper and it worked well, after i was nearly done, lol..anyway here it is stripped in this first pic, and the rest of the pics are then after one coat with Ralph's special brew. Give me your honest opinions. I have never done this before so appreciate any feedback at all.

SWEEEET

Looks a heck of alot better than the 'before' pics. I bet the finish was one of the pesky lacquers that doesn't dissolve with lacquer thinner too well, or more likely, an overcoat of pesky lacquer over the original shellac - looking at your before pics again makes me think that the flakiness and yellowing might be from lacquer, so basically you just learned one of the curve balls that gets thrown at you when stripping and refinishing

..good pics by the way, very helpful to see good big pics..

...now what are your plans for a finish coat, after reading all the differring advice around here

I am doing this chair with Ralph's guidance, so will be using Tung Oil after the 'stain-brew'. BTW, a big thanks to Ralph for all the advice and hand-holding via email. He spent quite a bit of time answering my ignorant novice questions