A recent project that we undertook for a local designer was building a replica of an existing mahogany chair. The client needed a chair to exactly match a set of five existing chairs. He also wanted us to change the finish of the original furniture set from their dark and worn appearance to a brighter, fresher look.
One of the original chairs was accurately measured and templates of the individual pieces were made. We milled the parts for the new chair out of mahogany lumber. Great care was taken to ensure the details in the original chair were reproduced exactly. The new chair was constructed using traditional joinery methods to ensure that it would be as sturdy as the originals.
The finishing process required us to strip the old finish off of the original chairs. Then all six chairs were bleached in order for the wood to give up its color. The original chairs were bleached more than once because of their age and the previous dark stain. After the color of all of the chairs was uniform, we stained the chairs using both a water based stain and an oil based stain followed by a light shading where a small amount of color was added to the lacquer. After the finishing process was complete, the appearance of the chairs was uniform, both in their shape and finish. They were then sent out to an upholster who added a pale green leather for the seats and backs.
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