Repairing chairs

[Feltwell]

I've got a few very plain & utilitarian wooden dining chairs, probably Victorian / Edwardian but hard to say, that have joints coming apart - mostly where there are turned struts bracing between the legs, where those struts go into a round socket in the side of the leg.

What do you reckon is the best glue to repair them with? Ordinary PVA wood glue? Furniture repair isn't my usual thing, my woodwork tends to be more constructional in nature!

The legs and struts look to be made from beech to me, they've got that distinctive very short flecking in the grain that beech tends to have. The seats look like ash.

 

[tobydog]

We gave up on glue in the end. Although not very traditional I actually put a small screw through the front of the leg. This not only pulled the joint together, it also expanded the strut end within the leg socket. It's now going nowhere. You just need to fill the small countersunk whole with matching wood filler and no one will ever know (except PPUK!). Whilst ours were natural beech and chunky, they weren't that old and looked like half the country's cottage kitchen chairs. Mrs. Tobydog spent several hours painting them with a matt waterbased paint before applying a traditional wax furniture polish. The colours were rather funky but the finish is very impressive. It feels bullet proof and they never show scratches. Really livened up the kitchen as well.

 

[Nigel Watts]

I wouldn't use screws or PVA. Pearl glue (sometimes called Scotch glue) is the right thing to use. This is made from boiled down animal bits. It needs to be soaked in some water then heated up in something like a double saucepan. The consistency you want is one where it flows from a brush but doesn't break into droplets.

Open up the joints, warm the wood (near a fire, or use a heat gun set fairly low) , brush on the hot glue and reassemble swiftly (the glue has a dual set - one as it cools, which can be very quick, and another as it dries, which is slower). Clamp, if you can, and leave overnight.

I have used this method quite successfully. The original would almost certainly have been glued with this. Being reversible, the new glue and the old should bond well together.

The traditional woods for country chairs were elm for seats (because it's hard to split) and beech for legs and backs. I would guess your seats are elm.

 

[Penners]

I wouldn't use PVA. It works well on new wood, but the fact that your chair joints have already been glued once will greatly reduce the efficacy of PVA - it won't be able to soak into the mating surfaces nearly so well.

Scotch glue is, as Nigel says, the traditional solution, but frankly I find it inferior to modern chemical glues.

Araldite will do a good job, but go for the original, rather than Araldite Rapid, which I find less strong.

However, for my money nothing beats polyurethane glue. It's immensely strong and isn't adversely affected by damp. Probably the best-known brand is Gorilla Glue:-
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001W030E0/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_2?pf_rd_p=103612307&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B0000DD5EN&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_r=0Z8NN5MHKYMMWCS9153Z

But my favourite is Titebond:-
http://www.axminster.co.uk/titebond-titebond-polyurethane-glue-prod22585/

To use PU glue, roughly sand the surface of the spigot and (as much as you can manage) the interior walls of the hole. You don't need to sand off all the old glue, just scratch the surfaces a bit. Apply glue to the spigot and mist the interior of the hole with a water spray. Insert the spigot and then cramp the joint firmly together until the glue is hard. This is important - the slight fizzing action of the hardening glue can sometimes push the joint apart a bit, if you don't cramp it.

If I remember correctly, I think the complete hardening time is about 4 - 6 hours, but the instructions will tell you.

I have used Tobydog's solution - a screw through from the opposite face of the leg into the end-grain of the stretcher, but it depends how thick the legs are. With thin chair legs I'm a bit concerned that the screw-hole will weaken the wood. If I used a screw I would always combine this with glue in the joint. If you countersink the screw-head slightly, you can use filler to disguise it.

The final part of the repair is a verbal one. Tell the family that anyone who rocks a chair back on two legs will suffer an eternity in the burning fires of hell.

 

[Feltwell]

Thank you Gents. Nigel, I think you could well be right - the seats look more like elm than ash.

The final part of the repair is a verbal one. Tell the family that anyone who rocks a chair back on two legs will suffer an eternity in the burning fires of hell.

I must have told my daughter off a thousand times for doing that! It's an irrestible attraction for kids - I can clearly remember my parents and teachers telling me off for doing the same thing.......

 

[Penners]

Quite right. Chairs have quite enough stresses and strains with which to contend on four legs.

 

[lordmulberry]

In the days before "elf & Safety" an art master at my school kept a four legged chair with one leg missing for pupils who tilted the chair back on two legs. Once you got the hang of balancing it was reasonably comfortable. It then became a point of honour to "win" a go on the chair so the objective was defeated!
Cheers

 

[Penners]

A bit like ASBOs, really...

 

[Andrew Bodenham]

Your choice of glue depends on whether or not you can take the affected joints apart. If you can dis-assemble them then you can clean off the surfaces back to clean wood and be sure of a good bond. In this case I'd go with Penners recommendation of a polyurethane glue. Be careful not to apply too much as it's impossible to remove cleanly when wet, and very very sticky. Best to let any squeeze-out cure and then remove carefully with a sharp blade. If the joints are well-fitting then Franklin Tite-bond3 is an excellent alternative.

If you can't get the joints apart - often the case when only one or two joints are loose - then I recommend Veritas 'Chair Doctor' glue. This a a low viscocity quick setting glue which can be injected into the joint - the kit is supplied with a syringe and various blunt needles. If you can't get a needle down the side of the tenon you can drill a small hole (1mm, say) into the joint and inject the glue that way. Because the glue is thin it gets drawn into joints by capillary action. Excess is removed with a damp cloth after clamping.

I've used this product on several repairs of old chairs and it really is a good solution. Available from Axminster (axminster.co.uk) amongst others.

 

[Penners]

That's useful, thanks, Andrew. I've never heard of "Chair Doctor", but I've noted it for future reference.

 

[Feltwell]

Very useful, thanks Andrew - and not just for the chairs. I've got some panelled cupboard doors with the odd loose joint that can't come completely apart, I can see that "Chair Doctor" could be useful for those. It's not that expensive either.

 

[Carol]

This was very useful info. Thank you. I might have a go at the pair of old 'High Wycombe' chairs given to us twenty years ago and stashed in the loft until we decided what to do with them. They are are little more than a bunch of sticks, with a back and base. Then I will have to learn how to do cane seats!

 

[Penners]

cane seats

In my youth, I knew a few schoolmasters who were pretty adept at that.

 

[mardinor]

I can second the recommendation for Chair Doctor. It's diluted PVA, so non-reversible, but works extremely well by swelling the joints. I've used it successfully several times on wobbly chairs.

 

[Nigel Watts]

As I am nearing the end of my mammoth hall decorating project I am on the look out for a nice single or pair of hall chairs for my non-exisitant footman to sit on. A good pair is going to be rather more than I can get away with, unemployed as I am am, but I saw a very nice single one here:

http://www.sellingantiques.co.uk/antiquedetail.asp?autonumber=108329

I was just about to buy it until I scrolled down and saw how the seat had been treated: drilled through, screwed and plugged. This is precisely how not to repair a chair of this kind. What a shame. The chair is otherwise seems to be in nice unrestored condition with its original crest in place. A pair like this, in good nick, could be ten times the price.

 

[Moo]

Oh, go on, Nigel - swallow your scruples and buy it. As you say, it's affordable, looks really good in your hall, and I'm sure your footman wouldn't mind about the repair.

 

[Flyfisher]

. . . and surely being sans footman must only be a temporary state of a affairs? :wink:

 

[jocelyn plummer]

and saw how the seat had been treated: drilled through, screwed and plugged.

Trouble is the Butlers tended to lean against the backs and break them away from the seats---------- not badly priced though, the market for dark stuff is still very slow. I'd like a close up of the crest--just in case they are my missing chairs-- :wink:

 

[Penners]

I am on the look out for a nice single or pair of hall chairs for my non-exisitant footman to sit on...I saw a very nice single one here:
...saw how the seat had been treated: drilled through, screwed and plugged.

That chair is rather different from Feltwell's description of his own, though, Nigel. "Plain and utilitarian" he called them.

Anyway, what on earth are you thinking of? A chair for the footman? We allow Jenkins to sit down during the Sunday sermon at church, but otherwise he stands. He's a footman, after all, not a seatman.

 

[LadyArowana]

Anyway, what on earth are you thinking of? A chair for the footman? We allow Jenkins to sit down during the Sunday sermon at church, but otherwise he stands. He's a footman, after all, not a seatman.

We could allow the night porter a chair though