Day Two: Deconstruction Part 1

I've been doing a lot of online research as to the best way to restore my poor rocking chair, and the first step seemed to be a no-brainer. First, I have to get rid of anything on the chair that I don't want to keep. In this case, that would be the dry-rotted and shredded rush that makes up the back and the seat.

For this task, I will be using a pocket knife that I bought for my fiance. The blade I'm using is called a hawkbill - a name I thought to be ridiculous since hawks don't have bills, they have beaks. But being the nerd that I am, I did a little research. Get this, the knife blade is actually named after a species of turtle called the Hawkbill.

What I think is funny is that the turtle got its name because it has a hooked beak similar to a hawk's. So I've got a knife that was named after a turtle with a hooked beak that was named after a bird with a hooked beak. So why is it called a hawkbill when neither the turtle nor the bird have bills? I wasn't able to locate any information on that subject. I can only assume that hawkbill sounds cooler than hawkbeak. Anyway, here is a picture for reference:


So using my somewhat aptly named blade, I started removing the rush. It came off the back pretty easily, and I made a few discoveries. Apparently, this chair once played nursery to thousands of baby spiders. I found three separate egg sacks:




Removing the rush from the seat has proven to be a bit of a challenge. It seems that the original maker of the chair wove the seat before the chair was actually finished. There are spindles all the way around that are very effectively impeding my progress. I wasn't able to get pictures because the batteries in my camera died. I will show what I'm talking about as soon as I can. I will more than likely have to take the chair apart to get the rest of the rush removed.