Thonet-style chair

The bentwood chair is in good conditions, apart from the seat's broken wickerwork. For restoration we have to take the chair apart.

At one leg we have to repair a contusion in applying wet cotton fibers. This should help to swell the wood to its original form.

As next step with a screwdriver we have to remove the broken wickerwork from the seat.

Now we remove the stain of all component parts. On the picture you can see the upper leg in its original state and the lower legs already stripped.


To give it a darker appearance we apply colored shellac. Afterwards, when you like the color, apply (with some cotton fibers) a lot of thin layers of colorless finish.

Soak the machine-made wickerwork for some minutes in water. Then put it on the seat frame and batter it into the groove of the frame. It helps if you cut a piece of wood to the exact size of the groove. As you can see on the picture, this is used like a wedge to tuck the matching round wood (which pins the wickerwork into the frame) and the wickerwork into the groove.

Cut the protruding wickerwork. If you desire a darker seat, apply some color pigments (dissoluble in alcohol) with a brush. In our case we used some colored shellac.


Now you can rejoin the parts - some will be glued, others screwed. At the end apply some wax and polish the chair.

Here you can find a link to the offical Thonet website: Thonet