We go everywhere and Spring of '18 took us to St Sebastian Church in Akron, Ohio. The existing blondish pew finish was circa 1960 original with multiple coats of varnish that was worn and just plain dirty.
These seats show many coats of paint-like opaque finish coated over previous greasy layers that were easy to scratch. It's exemplary of what happens when you coat new finish over soiled existing earlier finishes. The substrate just can't hold on to the top coat. Clearly painters have been here! :)
Nonetheless if it's solid wood beneath all that muck we can find a deep rich golden patina hiding underneath it all. It takes just old fashioned elbow grease to get there.
In that the balcony organ pipe housing in the back of the church was original pristine aged finish the best pew color solution was to match the pews to that. We call it "aged blond."
Turns out that that color just happened to bring the beautiful altar mosaic into harmony as well. Who'd a thunk?
The church placed great value on their original wood kneelers so we disassembled them and sanded each...
... then stained all the parts to match and provided new pads. (That's a church volunteer putting them back together).
In this photo you can also see sanctuary doors in the background. We refinished 50 doors and 4 confessionals and 30 pieces of sanctuary furnishings also.
We're truly grateful to have spent time getting to know the folks at St Sebastian Church and the Akron community. We love that our work takes us to places we might otherwise not think of going to.
Special thanks to all!
Need your church pews refinished or restored?
Call us (262) 527-8969 or email woodworkrestoration@hotmail.com .
Scott Beddome
