What is it???

The wood, the chair, or the restoration process?

The wood looks like fir, the chair could be Limbert given the bolted construction and posts that attach to the sides of the rockers (but is probably generic), and I don't know what the restoration process is but it looks great!

ooohhhh so close...OK this gives it away...you shouldn't have any trouble now Steve...

(and not restored yet, thats just some hard cleanin')

time for another hint sc, what exactly are you looking for?

Sorry, no big riddle here, just trying to get guesses on the chair ID. I figured the first set of pics revealed just enough to take a stab at it and the cleaning shows the kind of wood. Similar to the eBay Limbert early 'sleeper' chair from a while back, I figured someone (probably Steve again) would get this one.

It's an early Limbert porch rocker, model #4, in ash, seen in the 1903 (page 1) and 1905 catalogs. Its also in the next catalog reprint (undated) but in oak. So there are only three chairs with a lower model number in the original Limbert catalog. Given that Limbert was a big sales rep for Old Hickory when he started making his own stuff I assume his porch or semi-rustic furniture may have been the first stuff he designed and cataloged. Its not a tour-de-force of A&C design and construction but it's a nice piece of early Limbert, and hence A&C, history I would think. This one is unmarked (would be pre-brand and the paper label is long gone) but the features and dimensions are spot on to the catalogs. The only difference is that the rockers are bolted on the inside of the legs while the catalog shows them on the outside - could have been flipped at any time. It needs one repair chunk and some gluing, but otherwise just a serious cleaning and finishing. The finishing brings up the question however of what to do. The catalog descriptions say the porch furniture was treated with a weatherproof finish, so what exactly was this?? I don't think shellac and wax would have been considered weatherproof. Was boiled linseed oil considered a weatherproof finish?? More research needed here, but nothing wrong with just going shellac and wax as a 'reversible' restoration.

curses, i suspected ash from some old cupboards i once had.
can you expand a bit on the cleaning process, i assume you just put some mineral spirits on there to show what it looks like after being cleaned.
i don't think shellac will work neither, eventually some of it would be exposed to moisture and go all milky.
I consulted the furniture doctor again and george likes boiled linseed oil as an outdoor finish, the only drawback was drying time. i thin it with mineral spirits and a few drops of succatifve dryer to speed things up.

Correction..it's actually not until the catalog after the 1905 (which is 1908 I think) that there is info about using a weatherproof finish (so this would be for oak not the early ash chairs). In fact the 1903 and 05 catalogs say nothing about a finish coat. I posted the following message on the Style1900 forum in Yahoo Groups to see if I get a response. Its not a super busy group (several days can go by without messages) but the refinishing guy from Style1900 magazine hangs out there so maybe he will respond.

"I recently started cleaning up a Limbert rocker, model #4 in ash (as
seen in the 1903 and 1905 catalogs, as reprinted) and I have to
decide how to finish it. I have scrubbed the major grunge off and am
left with essentially bare wood. Whatever the original finish was is
long gone. The chair looks like it was exposed to the elements for a
long time, which is fine because this is one of Limbert's
porch/garden/semi-rustic models. The chair re-appears in the next
catalog (#112 which is 1908 I think) but in oak, and is described as
having a weatherproof finish, whatever this is (maybe not shellac &
wax, but maybe boiled linseed oil ???). So the question is, how
should I finish this without any clear guidance from the early
cataogs. I don't want to do anything but a period finish. Shellac
and wax might just be the best default thing to do, if no other
information surfaces here (and because its reversible), meaning I
don't necessarily want to do linseed oil only to find out later that
this was not authentic. I don't think it needs any stain given the
natural weathered colour it has. The 1903 catalog says it was
available in 'natural', 'green', or 'brown', and the 1905
says 'natural', 'light green', or 'weathered'. Thanks for any
comments."

Ah yes, that makes sense. I didn't get a chance to check out the catalogue and respond earlier. Ash would be the other option. I was actually thinking it might be chestnut but then I realized that I don't think I have ever seen anything but cabinets made out of chestnut. Does anyone know if they ever made chairs, tables, or anything else out of chestnut? It has a similar grain pattern I think.

Ash seems like it would be very sturdy for chairs, etc. It is kind of surprising that it isn't used more. Currently I think it is mostly used for tool handles and maybe baseball bats... I have heard that dried ash will burn up a blade pretty quick since it is so hard so maybe that is part of the reason.

SC - What did you do your good hard cleanin' with? Alcohol?

I agree that shellac would not be very weatherproof but remember that it is a "porch" rocker, not a "deck" rocker. So assuming a covered porch, theoretically it would rarely if ever get wet. Only if a hard rainstorm blew in sideways. Unless of course, someone left it out in the rain or too close to the edge of the porch. Maybe that is why the weatherproof finish was used starting in '05.

I would think there are early A&C pieces in chestnut, other than just cabinets - it makes sense, and Gus was big on using chestnut. I'll look for some pics tomorrow.

I think some ash types might be harder than others - I know there are at least three native ash species, white, green, and black, and black is a bottomland type so it might be softest, but just a guess.

I cleaned with good ol laundry soap first (and the pics above are while it was still wet) and then medium steel wool with alcohol. I did a little gluing to a couple cracks today and some spot bleaching of the mineral stains from the bolt heads but left a bit just for affect. I probably won't get back to it until next weekend.

..before and after cleaning and bleaching..(the grass is greener because we had more than 2 inches of rain in three days)..

Looks great! Keep posting pics... good idea to leave some of the bolt stains. I don't like it when folks refinish a piece so hard it looks brand new (i.e. sand it until they get to new wood, finish it glossy, etc.)

...no sanding or staining planned at all here.. , just a good dull waxing over spit coats