Antique Chair, part 5

Before I begin to attach the webbing, I mark the center of each rail. Don’t cut the webbing to size. Take the end of the roll, fold it over an inch of so and attach it to the bottom of one of the side rails. Make sure that the edge of the webbing doesn’t hang past the outside edge. I try to put the edge in about the center of the rail, placing the staples as close to the edge of the webbing as possible. Doing this tends to flatten out the webbing on the outside edge. By doing it this way you will have less bulk and you will have enough space on the outside edge to adequately cover the webbing with the dust cover. I will discuss the dust cover in later postings.
Once the one edge is attached, run the webbing to the opposite rail, finding the center mark on the rail and the center of the webbing. Take your webbing stretcher and place the protective rubber edge against the outside of the rail and poke the sharp prongs of the stretcher into the webbing. Pull back on the handle, of the stretcher. Don’t pull back so much as to harm or distort the frame. Be aware of any ornamental woodwork on the outside of the frame. Pull the webbing tight, shoot some staples into the webbing, remove the stretcher, cut the webbing a couple of inches from the edge of the frame, fold the edge over and finish it off the same as the other side. Now apply the webbing to the back rail, repeating the process that was described as to the side rails. When this action is complete you can start to attach the adjacent webbing pieces. To add strength, to the deck, “weave” the webbing. Front to rear, side to side, alternating over and under. Attach and finish each webbing strap as described above. more to come......