Dad's Oak Civil War Chairs

A couple weeks ago we did a "throw together" meet at the local pizza joint for dad's birthday.  He turned 82 and he and my mom are doing great!  I had written this blog posting a long time ago and never posted it.....not sure why and then it got buried in the lists of postings and I forgot about it.  But celebrating his birthday seems like a good time to finish it and do the posting!  

Happy Birthday Dad!  You continue to amaze!

My dad, Jim Kullmer with his Uncle Ernie Weaver.
At that time, he was the last of the Weaver children born to Peter & Rose Weaver.  His mind was a steel trap and he was the source of endless stories and knowledge.  So thankful I videoed him that day.
June 2012

A while back my parents showed up at my door sporting one of these.....without the fabric seat.  And I go Ooooooo!!!!  What's the story of this?   It was all folded up and no fabric.  My dad makes the greatest stuff from his workshop and he came across a reproduction chair design from the civil war.  And he thought we might like it!  That was an understatement!!!!

I wanted to show how this chair folds up.....it does it in a funky way.  I am not sure how clear this picture makes it.......

Then dad says to me.....you would maybe rather have a pair of them instead of just one?  How fortuitous.....just what I was thinking.  So a couple weeks later, here he comes with another one.

Guess where the wood came from.....we live on the farm and use to raise pigs, a lot of them!  We had quite of bit of oak hog fencing on the outside of the barn.  Guess where this wood came from?  This wood used to keep the pigs in their pens and looked nothing like this.  Our family has hutches, desks and I don't know what all, including now these chairs from that wood.  Talk about re-purposing!!!!

I picked out the tapestry fabric for the seats and sewed those.  I tried to pick something that had that period look and would also look good in my house.  To say I love them, would be an understatement!

Civil War Officer's Chair Plans  just in case you want to make your own!

Here is a picture of General Grant sitting in one of these chairs.  I think they would have been used by high ranking soldiers.  Only someone that had a staff to haul their things around for them.

Another photo with General U.S. Grant......the chair back is a variation from mine.