Repairing Bauhaus chairs

[JohnD]

I some some of these peculiar pieces of "Mart Stam" furniture, where a frame of chromed steel tube is bent round into a shape approximately resembling the outline of a chair.

in my case the seat and backs are not wooden frames with the wicker infill, but leather rectangles. Mine also have arms, so the seats are held across L-shaped subframes rather than the main structure.

to prevent the sides of the frame flexing inwards when the occupant sits, there are curved steel-bar braces under the seat to hold the sides apart. Over time, mine have flexed so that they are excessively curved, and although they have screw adjusters to lengthen them, they no longer poke sideways into the frame, but poke at a slight upwards angle. Accordingly they tend to pop out.

I am trying to think of a way of bracing these chairs which will not look too inelegant. As i have fallen on hard times since buying them, the idea of chucking them out and buying new ones does not appeal. I wonder if anyone has a solution?

 

[oilman]

Try straightening the bar by putting a baulk of timber across the seat and clamping another piece to it with the bar in between. Gradually tichtening screws will straighten the bar, but don't over do it.

 

[JohnD]

Thanks, I think I get your idea, but the curved bar keeps flicking round, so it is "flat side on" to the compressing surfaces. When I try my multi-purpose engineering tool (big hammer) it just bounces off, so probably the slow squeeze is the right approach.

I can actually take the bars out (they fall out!) if that helps devise a method. They have a screw-on sleeve at one end to adjust the length by about an inch, and a tapered point at each end to locate into holes in the frame.

 

[Scrit]

You'll need to hold the curved piece so that it cannot move - so your big bit of wood is probably best being three bits of wood glued and screwed together so that they form a deep "U"-shape.

Scrit