Dark furniture

[Alder]

I have an interest in furniture finishing and stress just an interest. We have a set of dark dining chairs probably mid to late forties. (They're stamped with a Kite mark) . The first one I stripped and French polished came up well.. This chair was done on a polishing course.
I then turned my attention to the rest in a batch stripping the same sections of each chair in turn and was intrigued with these chairs to find what appeared to be different timbers in various sections, differences that were hidden under the dark finish.
Was this normal practice?
Russell

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Iirc, yes. It was (again iirc) known as utility furniture and made through the war. Someone a bit older than me will tell you more, but I think it was common practice.

 

[ED65]

I don't know if it's common for later chairs such as yours but it was certainly normal for some early chairs to use a mixture of species, each used for its particular strengths in a different part. I suppose the classic example is the Windsor, which might be made from a mix of oak, ash and yew.