A few months ago I saw a rocking chair for sale on craigslist that I liked, but it was 325 bucks. After searching around, it was usually attributed to a finnish designer, Ilmari Tapiovaara. I had to pass on that one because that’s a lot of money for an old chair. Then a few weeks ago another one came up for sale for half that price, but the description said it was loose all around and needed some work. This seemed perfect for someone like me, so I met the guy one weekend and picked it up. I’ve since seen the same chair for $500 – 900, sold as a Tapiovaara design, when it’s probably not really.
Here are the photos from the ad:
I looked into it some more and found out that it probably wasn’t a Tapiovaara design, but was instead in “the style of”, which usually means it’s a knock-off. Still, it was old, and I think it looks good. When I went to check it out, it was very loose as described, the seat had some scratches, and at some point a dog chewed up the arm a little bit. I had come across two very similar dining chairs in a second hand store, one clearly marked “YUGOSLAVIA” on the bottom. This made me think the rocker was from the same manufacturer.
The seat is laminated wood, with the top being teak veneer, very nicely book-matched, right down the middle. Before I could really sit in it and enjoy the chair, I had to take it all apart and re-glue the joints (34 of them). A few of the joints were still solid, mainly the two larger slats on the backrest, and a few of the dowels in the backrest, so I let them be.
It looked like the chair was originally glued up with hide glue, which is common for older furniture (pre-60s?). Before taking it apart, I labeled all the pieces with blue tape so I could put it back together in the right way.
I sanded the seat by hand until most of the deep scratches had disappeared. Then I set about on the tedious task of removing the old glue in each joint and on the ends of the dowels. The glue was very brittle, so it just chipped out with a gouge. I was careful not to remove too much of the wood, which would leave the joints with a very loose fit.
Four of the dowels were originally shimmed, but two had been removed. Below is a photo of the bottom of the seat, with the two shimmed joints visible on top. There were no markings on the bottom of the seat, unfortunately, making it difficult to identify where it was originally made.
After the seat was sanded smooth, up to 400 or 600 grit, I bought some hide glue, which is basically made by boiling down the hide and bones of a cow, and the smell is quite revolting, especially if you tend toward being vegetarian. Definitely NOT suitable for vegans, but hide glue has the advantage that it is water soluble, so any repairs in the future will be easy, and can be done without damaging the chair.
A before picture of the two dowels that hold up the arms, originally wedged. I sawed out the wedge and had planned on trying to redo those joints, but wasn’t sure exactly how to do it. I think the wedge is driven into the dowel, causing it to expand and tighten up the joint, and then two half-moon pieces of wood are driven into the seat base to make the joint more presentable.
This was my first time using hide glue, and the smell really is awful. The pearls are soaked in water for 48 hours, that water is discarded, and then the pearls are boiled down with a bit of new water until the glue melts into a slightly thick consistency. The glue is applied hot, and it’s good practice to heat up the wood before brushing on the glue, bit I didn’t learn that until later. None of the joints were clamped, but after 24 hours, the joints are tight and the chair is solid once again.
With the chair all glued up, it’s now ready for a final clean up. I want to oil the seat, but don’t want it to darken very much. I may touch up the paint in a few places (where the dog chewed it), but don’t really mind it as-is.
Today after doing some more research, I found the following images, of a very very similar chair, produced in Yugoslavia by Stol Kamnik. This is the only time I’ve found pictures of this rocker in natural wood, without the black paint. The chairs are identical otherwise. A Slovenian designer named Niko Kralj (REX chair) worked for Stok Kamnik as far as I can tell, and I’ve read online that he and Tapiovaara were friends. I also read somewhere that Tapiovaara had connections to Yugoslavia, but it’s still not clear if he designed this chair, or if it was just made to mimic the style of his Fanett chair, in which case, it’s interesting to think about about the relationship of those two designers, and how Tapiovaara really felt about this rocker being produced.
Natural wood rocking chair, with a Stol Kamnik decal, nearly identical to this one I picked up, pictures from this french site:
