Antique Highchair

This was my dad’s highchair. It must be from the 30’s or 40’s, I’m really not sure – but I do know it’s oooooold. And, it’s in bad shape.

Some of the wood on the seat is splitting apart, leaving big cracks. There are several pieces that are broken or simply missing – such as the support pieces around the legs and the entire bottom shelf (that serves as a table top when folded out). The old finish was long gone and the wood was very dried out.

I found some images of similar highchairs so I could recognize what was missing in this one, and how I might replace it. I then took the whole thing apart – being careful to mark what goes where and what will need to be made from scratch.

I used oak dowel rods to replace the missing support pieces, but the difficult part was replacing the lower shelf/table. A simple piece of plywood served as the bottom shelf, but the support bars on the side needed to have the shelf fit inside. It took a lot of small measurements, cuts and patience, but it eventually fit together perfectly.
I filled the cracks and splits with glue and wood putty made out of the sawdust from my initial sanding of the chair. It took a few applications to ensure all areas were filled and repaired, but the surface was finally solid.

I then did a lot of sanding with a high grit sand paper to ensure everything was smooth, then put the whole thing back together, using a touch of glue for all the pieces to make sure they held together.
Hardware was painted an antique satin, and the chair was stained with an Early American wood stain. A polyurethane final coat was applied to seal everything together and protect the highchair for years to come.