toolemera

I've a soft spot for mid century furniture, having grown up with it! A lot of this was made in the US. The woods are often birch and/or maple unless it's walnut or teak. Is there a maker mark on the chairs? I wonder if the glue joints are loose enough to take the chairs apart. Some of the warping might be due to stress from glued or screwed joints. If so, releasing the stress might help. If the wood is birch / maple, there is little to be done in bending it back into shape without damaging the pieces. You'ld have to disassemble them and steam bend each piece back into shape. But, once the dry air works on them, they'll warp again. Back to why warping. I think it's the result of the fasteners. Some mid century furniture was held together with screws at various points and replacing the screws with new ones and new screw holes can help. Back to the maker. That would tell a lot in what sort of wood it is and what to do!

I'll go along with poplar, and add in maple for the legs (for strength). Could even be some beech mixed in. Furniture such as this was made in small factories or shops from a variety of woods which means it's nearly impossible to bring it all back to one shade or color. The original most likely had an undercoat stain to even out the grain and colors, followed by a film finish - shellac or lacquer. The difficulty you had in removing the finish makes me think it was a sprayed on lacquer finish. Hope this helps some!

The last ditch effort is to heat the outer shell, just momentarliy to expand it and then try two vise grips or similar pliers. A propane torch for a few moments or a quick pass over a stove flame will do to expand the shell.

Looks like a Millers Falls if my memory serves. The triangle label is a MF label. One of the heavy duty, closed gear models. The chuck base will unscrew. You may have to soak it in a light oil first, then tap the back lightly with a small hammer to see if that loosens it. If not, wrap it in a cloth and try a vise grip. It's possible one or more of the springs have broken or just slipped out of place which can happen if the jaws are retracted too far.

a bit belatedly, I've seen this style of bench vise, with or without the apron, in many 19th C books for all sorts of purposes. Joinery, boys carpentry, house carpenters, etc. The one unifying word seemed to be carpentry & joinery as opposed to furniture making but that could be just the chance of the author. These were described as a popular vise for use when working on long stock (as mentioned), on wide stock and for jointing/forming edges rather than for working on tenons and such. Nicholson and Moxon discuss this in terms of house capentry and joinery. Trade catalogs feature classic european style two vise benches as Cabinet Makers benches. Go figure. Thing is, in a large joiners shop or at a job site, there was often more than one bench: the joinery bench which might have been made on sight and the more familiar bench with two vises that was carted to the site. Just to wreck that theory, I have photos showing both ways if only I can find them in the current mess that is my work room. All of which is to say, do what you want cause I think that there was no hard and fast rules about much of anything. Then as today I believe that people continued to work with whatever they became accustomed to working with. Me, I prefer a wide flat surface sans tool tray. My last was 3 feet wide, an old door and it lasted for 3 decades of all sorts of stuff.

Greetings folks Well, it's been quite a bit of time, but I finally found my way back. The new format is a great improvement, much easier to navigate and to read. Now that I've bookmarked the forums, I'll be sure to stop in on a regular basis, if only to see what is going on out there! See you all soon Gary Roberts