Eames Lounge Unfinished Rosewood Lower Backrest. A replacement lower backrest for the iconic Rosewood Eames Lounge. The lower backrest is prone to breaking when the shockmounts fail. This is a replacement lower backrest made in unfinished real hardwood rosewood. After you place your order we will send you images of the several rosewood veneers we have in stock so that you may choose the exact veneer you want. We take great pride in manufacturing components which meet the same high standards as the vintage originals. The inner plys are maple and will darken with age; just as the originals. All wood oxidizes and changes over time, sometimes also dramatically fading depending on sun exposure. In some cases the new lower backrest can be bleached to lighten it, or all of the original panels can be sanded to remove the thin layer of sunfaded veneer at the surface. These are decisions to be made in the restoration process.

This new unfinished rosewood backrest is made from fresh rosewood veneer, which means the restorer must have the expertise to match the wood to the original backrest. This requires a very high amount of skill - we cannot overstate this enough, this is a very difficult process in most cases. The restorer must be comfortable in all methods and aspects of wood matching including, but not limited to staining, bleaching, fuming, etcetera. We send sample swatches cut from the waste of the exact same veneer to aid in practice matching.

The four mounting holes for the back braces are pre-drilled. The shockmounts for the lower backrest are included and mounted. You will also want to be sure that the two shockmounts on the seat panel are replaced - you don't want to leave any aging and overstressed parts on the chair that are due to fail.

A note about the core of inner plys: The earliest lounges were made with a poplar core. This was for cost savings; poplar is an easy to grow inexpensive wood. Poplar is a rich amber when aged, and when newly sanded will have areas of green. When you refinish your lounge you will see this tell-tale green on the plys if it is poplar. The bad news about poplar is that it doesn't have the tensile strength that maple does. Which is why the panels were soon switched to a maple core and are currently manufactured with a maple core today. We therefore recommend and manufacture replacement panels with a maple core. If you require poplar cores please inquire; poplar cores are an option for an additional cost.

A note about wood species: The vintage Rosewood Eames Lounge was originally crafted in Brazilian Rosewood. This is now an endangered hardwood and was CITES-listed on November 6th 1992. This means that it is globally illegal to trade or sell this wood species, in any raw or manufactured form, even new old stock. This wood is also protected separately in the United States by the Lacey Act. Rosewood, Santos Palisander, is a species of Rosewood which is sustainably grown and harvested in Honduras. Santos Rosewood has very similar, color, tone, grain, and pattern to Brazilian Rosewood, and as such is an excellent complement to the original Rosewood on your lounge. There is visually no difference and you can rest assured that a rain forest was not destroyed for the sake of this repair of your chair. Santos Palisander Rosewood is the species which your replacement rosewood panel will be made from. Any company or restorer advertising that they use new Brazillian Rosewood is most likely using deceptive advertising, as the alternative is that they are involved in the felony trade of an internationally protected wood species.