Jefferson Swivel and Secretary

Monday, December 5, 2011

Windsor Barstool

    I've been playing around with a few different ideas on making Windsor Barstools which seem to be, at least for me, becoming more popular. I've been making side chair versions for a little over a year now and thought the arm chairs might be something to think about too. I made this Philadelphia Arm chair version this past week and am pretty happy with the results except for maybe the paint choice. More on that in a second. I think this would make a great set of barstools to set at a counter in the kitchen and honestly it's pretty damn comfortable too.
                                                 Anyway now for a little about the paint.
  
     Originally I painted it with Real Milk Paint's Union Blue over Yellow Ochre and thought initially it looked decent. After a coat or two of the oil/varnish mix I top coat with, I began to see that it wasn't the right look in my eyes. I had some Ultra Bond that is suppose to make the milk paint stick to almost anything, so I mixed it in with some black to see how well it works. I am completely happy with that product. Even over a couple of coats of oil/varnish mix the black milk paint bonded and is just as tough as it is when it goes on bare wood. That's a very good thing to know when I am working on a customers chair and the paint colors aren't coming out right.
     If you've ever used Milk Paint you know it's hard to tell what it will look like till you have a coat or two of finish on. Then it's been where you have to sand back down to bare wood and it's a total pain in the hind-quarters.  I'm glad to say even if the oil is on you can change the color without all the sanding and scraping I've had to do in the past. I know my arms and shoulders appreciate that product too.

2 comments:

  1. Matt, nice stool, I like the yellow underneath. You can make ultra bond by mixing 1 part white elmers with 9 parts hot water in a blender. I use that as the "water" for the first coat of paint. On top of oil, I;d go with real deal like you did, nice job.

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  2. Thanks Terry,
    I'll have to give that Elmers Glue thing a shot somtime to see how it works, Thanks for the tip.

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