On Wed, 14 Oct 2009 22:46:55 -0400, wrote:

On Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:58:52 -0700, Tim Douglass
wrote:

I have in my possession 3 old swivel desk chairs. one dates to the
1940s, I think, another to the late '20s and the third is documented
to 1898. They are all in mostly good condition with a few notable
issues. The biggest issues is with casters, since every type of caster
I have tried that looks even remotely appropriate falls apart after
only a few months in use. Normally what happens is that the cheap
metal socket that goes into the leg deforms and the casters start
leaning, from there the ball bearings for the swivel quickly
deteriorate and the caster is worthless. This is even with casters
supposedly rated at 200 lbs. I have tried every source I could find
for something reasonable, but the only ones I can find that look solid
are rather modernistic in design - chrome and clear plastic. Does
anyone have any suggestions for how to deal with this short of just
buying the casters by the gross and replacing them every couple of
months?

If it is the metal inserts that are causing the problem, get a
machinist friend to rurn out a set of good thick ones that won't
deform and install the best caster you can find that looks good.

Yeah, I think the inserts are the real culprit, but I'm not sure what
to do about it. They are tapered (which is why they waller out the
hole) so you can't make them fit snugly and they have to have some
spring to them so that they grab the stem of the caster. At the
moment I live about 400 miles away from any of my machinist friends,
so that is likely to be a solution of last resort.

Question 3 has to do with the 1920s chair. It has a cane seat (broken
and must be replaced) and a leather padded back. The leather is in
reasonably good shape, with no tears or holes, but is very dried out
and I want to condition it before this chair goes back into service.
Anyone have any recommendations on what to use on the leather?

Neetsfoot oil or connolly hide food Clean well with Lexol leather
cleaner first. The connolly hide food is likely the best solution.

So far I have suggestions for neetsfoot oil, mink oil and the connolly
hide food (never heard of that one, so don't know where to get it
around here so I'll have to look around. Horse place maybe?). For
pre-cleaning I have suggestions for Lexol and Murphy oil soap.

I am hoping to get started on the 20's chair soon - it just looks too
neat to leave as is. The 1898 one is just a glue-up, so should have it
back in service in a few days. The caster problems are going to be
problems. I'd hate to have to pay machine shop rates for something
like that - probably run $20+ each easily - but the cheap ones that
come with the casters are definitely too weak for the job.

I was looking at some plate mounted casters today and they seem much
stronger - but they are also not sized to fit the chair feet.
--
"We need to make a sacrifice to the gods, find me a young virgin... oh, and bring something to kill"

Tim Douglass

http://www.DouglassClan.com