Marine Corps Memorial Chapel, Quantico VA

The Marine Corps Memorial Chapel was designed by Murphy and Locraft, and opened in 1967.  Please take a look at our Pew Refinishing work in the Picture Gallery at the bottom of this page.

The Chapel was totally renovated in 2010 and 2011.

The Keck Group was chosen to restore all of the pews, furnishings, and the historic communion rail, which was constructed from pieces of naval ship decks.

The job was complicated for many reasons.  In addition to all of the restrictions and security associated with this important Military base, the pews, as it turned out, had their own special set of challenges.

For the first time in 40 years, we found that the glue had dried out on most of the back joints, so when the ends and joiners were removed, the individual planks fell apart.

Prior to removing the pews from the Chapel, we had to stabilize the backs temporarily with corrugated fasteners so they would not fall completely apart, taking the individual pieces  out of their original locations.  Fortunately, the joint was tongue and groove, or the backs would have fallen apart years ago.

When we transported to the shop, each piece was glued and stabilized with a special device which pulled the joints together, negating the need to use clamps.  The special glue was allowed to run out of the cracks when pressured and dry.  It was later chipped off, and then the stripping process began.  (Note that the gluing took place prior to finish removal, as our stripping process does not affect glue joints, raise grain, or bleach the wood).