My Grandpa Would Have Been Proud!

My paternal grandfather was born in 1880.  By the time the depression hit in 1929, he had a family of six and work was hard to come by.  He did a number of different jobs like most men of the day and was an upholsterer for many years.

When I was about 10 he came to visit us in Silver City NM.  He was always looking for things to do.  One time he made a new golf grip out of a piece of leather.  We were mesmerized to watch him put it together.  Another time he built an ottoman that matched the fabric on our davenport.  And he used tacks and upholstery nails.

Much later, daughter Kelly decided to re-upholstery Queen Anne chair that we had in the upstairs bedroom.  She used a staple gun to secure the seams.

A few years ago, friends had a Lazy Boy chair that had some issues and Pam replaced some things and got it back in good working order.

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago.  I noticed my favorite Lazy Boy chair was a little wobbly.

It sits on the DS slide out and it didn't feel too stable.  I turned it over to get a look at things and found one of the supporting boards under the recliner extension below my knees was broken!

In two places.  So I decided to replace it and see if I could put it all back together again. I took a number of pictures so I could refer to them if I needed to 'retrace my steps' when I reassembled it.

I didn't want to unravel more than I needed so I carefully removed some staples with a screwdriver and pliers and then pulled the leather back and removed screws.  Once I got that done, I was able to remove the front 'plate'.

Here you can easily see the issue where the OSB would gave way at the top and bottom on the right side.  I went to Home Depot and found plywood that was in small cuts.  I didn't need a 4' x 8' sheet for this little piece.  Usually Home Depot has a section near the large sheets where the much smaller boards are organized for projects like this.

Once that was done, I used the old board as a template, and cut it to size on the table saw.

I used a jigsaw for the corners then drilled small holes in the corners of the two square areas.  The jigsaw blade fit into the holes and then I cut both areas out.  

One thing that made the job pretty easy was this jewel which I picked it up at Harbor Freight.  I plugged this into air compressor and ran the hose through the window and it worked great!

I carefully put the leather back in place over the board, stretched it and slowly got it done.

 I then put it back in place and began reinstalling the screws and tightening things down.

 It went back together pretty easily and I was excited about how it all turned out.

 It was a fun project and one that brought back memories of how they used to do things 'in the old days' like when my grandfather would come and visit.  He used upholstery tacks, nails and an upholstery hammer.  Glad I had a drill gun to remove the screws, a jig saw, table saw and a pneumatic staple gun!

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!