Refinishing the rocking chair

Several years ago, we received a donated rocking chair that was in need of repair. It has been sitting around the shop since, and only on a couple of occasions have we done some work to fix it up. First we repaired a broken arm, and then another time we began replace the wicker seat and back with slats from a broken baby crib.

On May 24, I asked Ruben Ruiz if he'd like to finish fixing the chair. He said yes! Ruben had come to Granja Peniel that day with me since it was a holiday and I was also bringing out a couple of students from El Camino to serve their social service hours. Ruben is a son of Nancy Ruiz, a woman whose family we have helped for many years, and he loves to go to the farm and work and learn.

So I showed him how to apply putty to the holes left from the wicker seat and back. He puttied up the holes and then sanded most of the chair. The power was off, so all the sanding was by hand.

Then I helped him cut and attach the slats to the seat and back of the chair. Here is a picture of Ruben attaching the last of the slats:

Then of course he had to try it out:

Next time, he'll finish sanding the chair and apply some finish - then we can get it out of the shop and give it to Aminta (one of the care-giving couples at the farm).