Seat Railings and Stuff

Today I began dismantling the seat.  I've always hated the fact that I couldn't get these seat railings off without removing all the upholstery, and their rusty, pitted ugliness is one of the main reasons why the restoration is finally being finished.


The first step is to knock off the remaining paint and any scale with the wire wheel.  This prepares them for electrolytic derusting, the detals of which can be seen here.

Closeup showing heavy pitting, which is characteristic of all the metal on this old wagon.

The railings are happily fizzing away in the electrolytic solution while I further inspect the seat.

I am so paranoid about the seat back warping or twisting while it is disconnected from its iron work, that I've gently clamped it between some pieces of scrap wood.  It's going to be separated from the seat for quite some time.

There was quite a bit of mischief hidden under the upholstery, including some small but significant spots of rot, and bunches of worm holes.  No thru-going damage.  Not hard to fix, but fixed it must be!

That's about all for today.  The railings will remain in the electrolytic solution overnight, and should be bright and shiny tomorrow, ready for resurfacing.