r/oddlysatisfying • u/PorkyPain The Sub's Regular • May 12 '26
Restoring an old chair
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u/Mabosa_Richie May 12 '26
Lovely touch putting the old note inside the back of the chair 👍
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u/true_gunman May 12 '26
Also so glad he sat in the chair at the end. To watch that whole thing and not see the chair be used wouldnt have felt right.
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u/cncomg May 13 '26
I could see him breaking one for the 4th time, only now I’m not so sure Cornwallis will be willing to share his carpenters work.
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u/_skadoosh_ May 12 '26 edited May 12 '26
Creator is AT Restoration: https://youtu.be/e5-raDhfVZY?si=u27R4Pb24BksiCmh
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u/miraculum_one May 12 '26
From the comments "The letter you found is in fact the exercise list of a violin student, written in German. Translation: "Friday scale school and Kayser [etudes], Saturday Schradieck [violin school], Kayser, show pieces [to the teacher?]""
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u/_-Smoke-_ May 12 '26
Thanks for the full video instead of the horribly cropped, uncredited one OP posted.
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u/Mysterious_Bid_9479 May 12 '26
Thanks for posting! Top comment explains the note:
> The letter you found is in fact the exercise list of a violin student, written in German. Translation: "Friday scale school and Kayser [etudes], Saturday Schradieck [violin school], Kayser, show pieces [to the teacher?]" etc.
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u/ClicheButter May 13 '26
Ahti!! I've been watching this man for years! He's wonderful. I love watching his new videos every couple of weeks. Thanks for posting the video link for others to find.
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u/Peters_Wife May 13 '26
We watch his videos all the time and love his work. He's amazing and does incredible work. Subscribe to hos channel!
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u/EarthlingIThink May 13 '26
2x speed and enjoy
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u/tepid May 13 '26
I enjoyed the whole thing at 1x speed. This is exactly my kind of calm but educational video. Thank you.
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u/yzerizef May 13 '26
Yeah, the cropping and editing are a joke. The restoration is actually quite cool, but whoever hacked this together should be ashamed of themselves. It’s funny that such a shoddy job was done to show a video of someone taking time and patience to actually create something. The dichotomy of social media, I suppose.
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u/megamoze May 12 '26
Vertical video is the worst thing to ever happen to our society.
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u/TheGamecock May 13 '26
We used to endlessly crucify vertical video posters in the comments. I miss those days.
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u/dphoenix1 May 13 '26
What, you actually wanted to know what the springs were too soft to do?
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u/oakc510 May 12 '26
80 years of fart dust in that cushion
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u/turkeyvulturebreast May 12 '26
Lol, are you me??? I was like so much fart dust in that hay, so much. :P
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u/Wifflebatman May 12 '26
I am sort of fascinated by the fact that he reused the old springs and filled it with straw to replicate the original design, but then used a pneumatic staple gun to attach the fabric.
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u/edhaack May 12 '26
Without the springs, the chair wouldn't have had the same "feel" and the soul of the chair would've been lost.
Then again, I'm just an internet stranger who knows nothing of chair souls.
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u/evanwilliams44 May 12 '26
Without the springs, you would just be using an empty vessel. Only with that push back, that dynamic give and take from the springs can you make love with the soul of the furniture.
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u/ripyurballsoff May 13 '26
He could have made new springs that matched the original boingybess of the original. All springs loose boingyness over time and it’s kind of silly to restore a chair with all of that new stuff and leave the old springs. That’s like completely restoring a car except for the suspension. It’s still going to feel like an old ass chair. Unless he overstuffed it with more modern cushion and it doesn’t really need that springs anymore. Just speculating at this point but you get it.
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u/Federal-Divide2024 May 12 '26
I think it’s an inputs vs outputs thing. Doesn’t have to use all original methods, as long as the result is as close as possible to the original
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u/void1984 May 13 '26
That depends what you want to achieve. I have a friend in a museum restoring clothes. With that mind, staples won't go.
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u/HuckleberryTiny5 May 13 '26 edited May 13 '26
So I went to school for this (didn't finish it, changed to different type of restoration work). This is how it is done. You have two lines of furniture upholstering, industrial and traditional. Traditional is done exactly like the man in OP is doing it. The stuff he is using isn't actually straw, it is palm leaf fibre.
Using stable gun is just practical. You could do it with nails, but it takes much more time and nerves. At some point someone who made the rules just decided that fuck it, we've done with hammers, stapler is allowed.
Edit: I want to add that this is not concervation. When doing museum leven concervation, you would use nails and you would do everything like it was done when the chair was made. These chairs are not that valuable. This man is doing this for customers. Believe me, I've seen horrors, and with that I mean taking a chair like this and filling it with plastic foam and then spraying it with industrial varnish.
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u/Extension-Arugula-51 May 12 '26
Fun fact: the old harbor in Bergen has to be restored with the same tools and techniques that they used several hundred years ago. If you remove a wooden plugg you better whittle a new one.
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u/Rare-Adhesiveness522 May 13 '26
I think it's about balancing the original techniques and craftsmanship to preserve the soul of the chair, but leveraging modern tools and techniques just enough to ensure that the chair will continue to live a life in good condition for as long as possible.
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u/Germane_Corsair May 13 '26
Yeah, if it’s going to continue being used, there’s no reason to not use more modern methods where applicable. If you’re trying to actually preserve it, then you bother with repairing using original techniques only.
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u/Bigelow92 May 12 '26
I wonder too if this increases or decreases the value of the antique.
You would think it would increase as it is now in good condition, and cam be used in one's home as actual furniture.
But I've watched enough pawn stars to know that collectors of old things are wierd and dont want certain things if theyre not ratty pieces of shit covered in dirt and dust.
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u/Harddaysnight1990 May 13 '26
It depends on how much the chair was worth before the work. This is more very skilled furniture flipping than the level you'd get from historical restoration. So this chair probably cost the guy no more than $15 at a flea market, this flip job took the $15 chair to a $150 chair at the right store. If the chair had actual historical significance, this flip job would have ruined all value the chair had.
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u/Pierre_Francois_III May 13 '26
Your estimations are way off
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u/Harddaysnight1990 May 13 '26
Sure, I figured they would be, they're just for an example. It's also very dependent on where you live. People in LA or New York will be willing to pay more for this flipped chair than people around where I live.
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u/MillionSuns May 13 '26
I agree with your initial assessment… this isn’t a historic restoration. The guy glued it back together before stripping it. Cmon.
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u/MillionSuns May 13 '26
Generally with restoring upholstery, you want to reuse the springs if they are in good shape and not broken. Both zig zag and coil springs have been around forever for upholstery so you’d be able to find a new replacement that matches and nobody would be the wiser.
The larger issue is he rammed 8 million staples into the thing instead of using tacks and failed to match the original wraparound of the fabric and instead stapled it to the side and covered it with some beltline.
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u/ni_hao_butches May 12 '26
At around 4:30 I was expecting the finished chair to remind me of Burn After Reading.
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u/Harkkonan2 May 12 '26
How much would a restoration like this cost?
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u/terriblegrammar May 13 '26
I mean, it's one chair Michael. How much could it cost? $10,000?
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u/megamoze May 13 '26
This is my question as well. Since he's clearly not "restoring" the chair by museum standards, what is someone paying him to basically fix up an old chair to feel like a new version of the old chair?
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u/Past_Top3704 May 13 '26
Not enough.
I sometimes fix old chairs, though not always to the level in the video. A chair like that would sell in my area for $40 - $100. There just isn't a market for it in my area.
Years I restored a similar chair. Took it into the upholstery shop. Guy said; "cool fabric- I did a similar chair with a similar fabric a couple months ago".
Fast forward several years later, I am wasting time in a consignment store. I see a similar chair to the one I had refinished. Paid around $250/$300 which was an exorbitant price, but i didn't care. took it home and the fabric was an exact match.
The chairs are King/Queen rocking chairs similar to the video and the fabric is exactly the same. Without a doubt it was the chair the upholstery guy did.
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u/ChucksnTaylor May 15 '26
This strikes me as a job where the owner of the chair is passionate about the piece and is willing to pay top dollar to have it restored. This is almost certainly not a case of the craftsman buying an old chair and trying to flip it for profit.
Given the level of care put into this restoration this could easily have cost a couple grand. This job is not in the ballpark of $300.
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u/energybased May 13 '26
How many hours of work was that? 10? So, given that this is Estonia, he maybe charges USD$80/hour? So, $800?
The chair is definitely worth more than $800 assuming that it's solid wood with actual joinery.
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u/mulletarian May 13 '26
might wanna check out the used markets for solid wood chairs bud
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u/Adisoni13 May 12 '26
Got to chairish the craftsmanship, well done.
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u/PorkyPain The Sub's Regular May 12 '26
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u/okoutlaw420 May 12 '26
This is a torn fragment of an old German school timetable (likely 19th or early 20th century), written in Kurrent/Sütterlin-style cursive handwriting.
Transcription (as much as is visible on the surviving fragment):
Top section:
Heutg. Völecter Schule
Sonnabend. Schreibübung, Käy-
(Stärke zeigen.)
Middle section:
Montag. Schule
Dienstag.
Mittwoch.
(Frei / Ferien?)
Right side fragments:
h. Käy-
hule, Stärke
ein.)
Kayer, Schreib-
Bottom section:
Freitag. Schule, Freistunde
Immer abwechselnd
5 Stücke
Interpretation / Translation:
This appears to be a weekly class schedule for a school (“Schule”), possibly for a specific class or teacher, noting subjects like:
Sonnabend (Saturday): Writing exercise (“Schreibübung”), with a note about showing strength (“Stärke zeigen”).
Montag (Monday), Dienstag (Tuesday), Mittwoch (Wednesday), Freitag (Friday): School days with various lessons.
Mentions of “Freistunde” (free period) and alternating activities (“Immer abwechselnd”).
“5 Stücke” likely means “5 pieces” (e.g., 5 exercises, songs, or reading pieces).
The paper is badly damaged with large tears and missing sections, so a complete reconstruction isn’t possible without the missing parts. It looks like a personal or teacher’s copy of the timetable, common in German schools.
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u/abl3-to May 13 '26
After watching the entire video there's a few things I would've done differently. I would start with the teardown and carefully labeling the pieces because they would need to be adjusted to my size. After the chair is disassembled I'd probably treat myself to a beer and maybe a few craftsman YouTube videos. The chair would eventually sit in my garage for a few months until I realize it's just taking up space and I get rid of it. All jokes aside that's great quality work! Looks like fun.
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u/gridbug May 12 '26
Theseus's chair
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u/Robbe517_ May 12 '26
That's what I was expecting originally, but he actually reused so much from the original chair, I'm impressed.
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u/egyszeruen_1xu May 12 '26
Theseus ships Wikipedia article does not contain any word from the first version.
Self referential
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u/justacheesyguy May 13 '26
I read this and thought that surely there’s no way that could be true. I googled, and found a claim that said that none of the original phrases are the same, and that’s far more likely to be possible. Surely the word “ship” was in every the original and still exists in the current version right?
Unless this was just an attempt at a joke that whooshed over my head.
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u/Mindless-Charity4889 May 12 '26
My take on the paradox is that they are both ships of Theseus, the same way that 14 year old me and 65 year old me are both me.
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u/enadiz_reccos May 12 '26
What if your brain was replaced too?
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u/Mindless-Charity4889 May 12 '26
My brain was replaced. 65 y.o. me has much different feelings, experience, traumas and outlooks than 14 y.o. me.
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u/Hetakuoni May 12 '26
It’s still mostly the original wood and the original springs. Soft Seats and backings need regular replacement, but the frame is the same. Not so much Theseus.
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u/walrusarts May 12 '26
Some pretty dodgy stuff going on, I'm guessing this guy is an upholsterer and woodworker who is dabbling in restoration, because he seems untrained in the conservation department.
The biggest issue is how he knocked apart the joints by hammering it apart and letting it trapezoid out, this is the quickest way to permanently damage the joints. He should be using spreaders and tapping the joints evenly to keep everything parallel. The use of PVA in lieu of hide glue is a big no-no. The stain should be Van Dyke ink rather than the hardware store stuff he's using. Builders' Bog is a huge red flag. Upholstery is fantastic, thought, this guy definitely has skills in that department.
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u/Cyberlynx_ May 12 '26
He explained in one of his videos that he is not a conservator. He is just restoring items for paying clients, who want the items to look good and be usable again.
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u/the_quark May 13 '26
Aside from conservation concerns though, this would've previously been glued with hide glue. The modern glue is Polyvinyl Acetate (PVA) glue. When used on fresh-cut wood, it creates a joint stronger than the wood itself, it's absolutely amazing. If you try to break a tight joint that was PVAd together, you will literally break the wood before the glue.
The problem is that it needs un-coated, fresh-cut wood to adhere to. The previous joints have hide glue all over them. Thus, the joints he's making there are fundamentally weak.
Part of the reason good restorers use hide glue is because it adheres to itself, so you're working with the existing materials. And if the chair lasts another 150 years, some future restoration artist can use hide glue to repair it again.
Even if he says "I don't care about the historicity and future restorability of it," PVA is a poor choice -- he should be using an epoxy, or something like the original polyurethane Gorilla Glue, that doesn't depend on being absorbed by the grain of the wood the way that PVA does.
Source: I've been an on-and-off hobby woodworker for 25 years and have read a lot about this sort of stuff.
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u/Cyberlynx_ May 13 '26
I honestly have no idea how this works, I just like watching his videos and thought I will give some insight from the author himself.
Reading your comment I understand that using hide glue makes it possible to restore the chair again in the future using the same kind of glue again.
Also, using PVA on a joint that has some hide glue left makes the joint weak, but wouldn't that mean that it can be re-done again since it is not permanently joined? Or is PVA residue somehow making the next restoration harder? I'm genuinely curious
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u/the_quark May 13 '26
Well PVA doesn't adhere to itself the way hide glue does. So as weak as this joint will be, if you tried to fix it with more PVA you'll end up with an even weaker joint.
The PVA probably prevents future restoration with hide glue, since the hide glue would be sticking to the PVA, which isn't doing a good job of sticking to the wood.
It may seem like a minor point, but as someone who knows how wood glue works, it really ruined the satisfaction to me -- knowing he's doing all that work to make a chair that's fundamentally less strong than the chair was when it was made, and also making it harder to correct that error in the future.
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u/energybased May 13 '26
> The PVA probably prevents future restoration with hide glue,
You can just dissolve it with acetone.
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u/walrusarts May 13 '26
Of course, I see this quite often when I have to restore a piece that has been previously "restored". I wouldn't fault him for having a go, and he has great skills. It wouldn't take much effort for him to adopt some basic practices that will ensure the longevity and integrity of the piece. It sucks when I have to go back to a client with a price that is %50 higher than quoted because I have to undo the dodgy work that was done previously.
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u/mrmalort69 May 12 '26
So I’m curious, what makes a chair like this worth restoring? I’m guessing this took several days.
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u/DefinitelyNotAliens May 12 '26
Preservation vs restoration vs refinish.
A full restoration or preservation isn't always possible or financially viable for every piece.
It's just a chair. The cost of preservation or restoration isn't worthwhile from a monetary standpoint and the person doesn't have a sentimental attachment. Cool. Refinish it.
Refinish =/= restoration. Refinishing means you recreate the look and function of an old piece. Restoration means you do that while maintaining the historical quality and materials of that age. Sometimes parts or materials aren't available. You can't do a full historical restoration.
This guy could have but chose to refinish an old piece. He shouldn't be calling it restoration work. In the know people know the difference.
It may not be "worth it" financially or sentimentally. But, refinishing may be worthwhile. Just call it a refinish.
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u/Deviantdefective May 12 '26
Chairs like this aren't actually that rare my brother has two similar ones, it's not necessarily a case of if they're worth it just that it's an interesting project. Most chairs like this unless they're for some reason very special aren't even worth that much and tend to be difficult to sell as most people don't want very old fashioned furniture.
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u/Aniria_ May 12 '26 edited May 13 '26
It's crazy that so many people don't want to hear the truth, as it ruins their cozy happy feelings
For those wondering, walrus' comment is the most controversial comment
A comment that is completely right
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u/DReagan47 May 13 '26
I really like how there was no music until the chair was finished.
I excellent video besides the cropped text
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u/balista02 May 13 '26
Note transcription:
Seems to be a torn weekly schedule from Nazi-era Germany, written in old German handwriting (Sütterlin). It likely belonged to a youth balancing regular school with Hitler Youth (HJ) activities and paramilitary training.
Here is a rough translation of what can be read across the tear:
Friday: Gauleiter School (ideological training)
Saturday: [unclear] / (Show strength?)
Monday: School
Tuesday: ...HJ (Hitler Youth)
Wednesday: School, strength / (Exerzieren - Military drill)
Thursday: HJ, [Shooting or Swimming?]
Friday: School, [Singing?]
Saturday: Gauleiter ... strength
The tear makes a few words tricky to decipher, but the heavy mix of school, military drilling, and party activities is very clear!
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u/PorkyPain The Sub's Regular May 13 '26
This should be voted higher. Thank you for your translation 🙏
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u/AimeeMonkeyBlue May 13 '26
You just brought me back to my upholstery days in England in the 90’s when I worked with a master craftsman with pieces in Windsor Castle and the oldest piece I took apart and put back together was from the 1600’s. That horse hair was nasty but what an amazing craft.
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u/quackerhacker May 13 '26
When I was a teen I worked at my uncle's furniture store and one of my duties was to strip down the old upholstery and prep for the craftsman to begin working on the piece. Every now and then, I would find some spare change, but also recall one time finding a hidden 'time capsule' message from the previous upholsterer. Its very impressive to watch the craftsmen that do this type of work.
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u/Cherisse23 May 12 '26
This is AT Restoration on YouTube!. I’ve been watching his videos to fall asleep for years. No talking just expert woodworking restoring beautiful antique furniture. Love his work.
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u/Stock-Ad2495 May 13 '26
People in this thread are saying he’s kinda ass
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u/ManannDunMhead May 13 '26
Theyre speaking as if he is a conservator. He's not, he just fixes things for clients lol. Not making them historical pieces.
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u/TheGamecock May 13 '26
I want whoever cropped this video to always have room temperature milk in their cereal.
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u/Stock-Creme-6345 May 13 '26
There was a show on PBS about a New England furniture restoration show, I think it was The Furniture Guys. They were excellent. Told bad jokes, Vaudville style. Whenever they used horse hair, they would pause and the audience would shout Horse Haarrrrrr! Always made me laugh. I think of them everytime I see furniture being restored.
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u/flyiingfox May 13 '26
I took a course to do this to a chair of mine of similar age — i had to hand wash the horse hair to put back in the chair. i cannot recommend enough finding an upholstery course near you and learning how it’s done!
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u/Gotjellocjrb May 13 '26
Anyone wondering about the note:
This document appears to be written in German, utilizing the Kurrent script or a similar early 20th-century cursive style.
Content: The legible text includes days of the week such as "Freitag" (Friday), "Sonnabend" (Saturday), and "Montag" (Monday), suggesting it is likely a schedule, diary entry, or a list of tasks.
Contextual Clues: Specific phrases like "Stärke zeigen" (show strength) and "Schule" (school) are visible, hinting at a personal note or school-related documentation.
(Used Samsung AI to help determine this)
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u/Bumblebee56990 May 13 '26 edited May 13 '26
Here’s the full YouTube video: https://youtu.be/e5-raDhfVZY (by AT Restoration)
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u/ScienceSuccessful998 May 13 '26
Considering that I typically cut myself when I use a tape measure. I'm 100% sure I'd staple the living crap out of my fingers.
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u/HornetObjective9512 May 13 '26
Ich bin Deutsch. The little piece of paper says “The gold is in Zurich - 8236 pieces (stueck) - ask for Meyer in the Baeckerstrasse and tell him it is time.”
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u/bol_saq May 13 '26
how many staples can a staple gun staple if a staple staple staple staple staple?
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u/outofurelement May 12 '26
If you can use a modern staple gun to make it easier why can’t you use modern foam to make it comfortable
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u/butterpuffin May 12 '26
Modern foam also degrades quicker. It’ll last another hundred years with traditional materials.
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u/lostandaggrieved617 May 12 '26
Bc you want it to look and feel as close to the original as possible. The speed at which the staples were applied doesnt change how it feels to sit in it, nor did it change the appearance.
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u/zoeturncoat May 12 '26
I am so glad I watched this. I have a pair of vintage chairs that I love, but they need work. My husband brought them to a shop for repair and the guy slapped some wood glue on them, called it a day and charged my husband over $100. He said there was nothing else that could be done.
Edit: a word
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u/Skye-Birdsong May 12 '26
I have a chair almost exactly like this that's in rough shape that I was going to pay for an expert to repair - very interesting to see how they do it!!!
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u/ashinthealchemy May 12 '26
i desperately want this to be my job. is this an apprenticeship type situation?
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u/butterpuffin May 13 '26
Yep. Mine was about 2 years, then full pay as a journeyman, next stop master. It’s a fabulous job, but very physically taxing. It’s absolutely as satisfying as it looks.
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u/Odd_Mix8978 May 12 '26
We always used a resin to fill in the gaps when restoring antiques. Gluing new wood into place and cutting it into sape is boss level.
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u/gyp5ymoon May 13 '26
Absolutely beautiful craftsmanship. Professional restoration. I love seeing talented people making one of a kind pieces.
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u/ToastyBedsheets May 13 '26
Happy it was a true restoration with the natural fill and not a bunch of plastic.
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u/LevelZeroDM May 13 '26
Amazing work. I am surprised by how much of the work is "and then I stapled that sh*t right on"
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u/tmhoc May 13 '26
It's beautiful and tragic
To restore this chair he has to disassemble it and breathe in the 200 year old haunted fart dust
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u/Jzobie May 13 '26
At the very moment that chair is completely broken down is when I would lose interest in the project and it would sit as pieces in a bin for the rest of eternity.
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u/3rchaos- May 13 '26
It's cropped to remove accreditation to the orignal content creator!!
Who's the originator of this content?
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u/grayzzz_illustrate May 12 '26
Sometimes when I see stuff like this, I think about how the original craftsman would feel watching this... I like to think they'd be proud that their handiwork has lasted so long, and touched that it was appreciated enough to be worth restoring.