galex's Profile

Here are two answers to questions posed last spring relating to Eames-Henry Miller fiberglass shell chairs. (1) What size bolts are needed to fasten the legs to the shell? The answer is 1/4-28. This differs from the much more common 1/4 national coarse thread. Try forcing one of the latter bolts in and you will strip the threads. Inexplicitly, Modernica provides 1/4 NCT bolts with their Eiffel bases. For all I know, there may be some knockoffs around with NC threads on them, but not the Eames-Miller originals. (2) Cleaning and refinishing the fiberglass shells. First, keep in mind that there's no surface finish on these shells, unless they have been painted. This makes it easy, because one does not have to worry about removing the finish, like one would on an ordinary piece of furniture, an automobile or the hull of a boat. Quite a number of products can be used; I'll just mention three of them. (a) Get a can each of rubbing and of polishing compound from an auto supply or hardware store. plus some cheesecloth, and follow directions, first using the coarser rubbing compound, and then, the finer polishing compound. Lots of elbow grease is needed, but you'll end up with a good as new finish. Even deep scratches can be rubbed out. (b) The same end can be accomplished by using pumice and rottenstone powders, in series, available at some paint stores and wood working supply outlets. (c) If you have some deep gouges, you might want to start out with rather fine grade of wet-and-dry silicon carbide abrasive paper, plus water. Using the above methods, there's no such thing as a shell chair that can't be rehabilitated unless it has structural damage.