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Approach to dissassemble/re-glue loose chairs?

31K views 30 replies 18 participants last post by  Backyardhack 
#1 ·
Hi All,

I have a dining room set we purchased second hand a couple years back. The chairs are very loose and creak a lot. Concerned they're going to break and hurt/embarrass someone (probably me!).

So I'd like to re-glue them, probably one at a time. Question is, do I try to disassemble them completely or just clearly loose joints? How to get apart the joints that aren't loose, especially if they're locking in the lose ones?

Once apart I think I"m try to remove dried glue with rasps, sanding to clean wood. Then re-glue and clamp up.

Searched forums but haven't found anything on this...figure one of you handymen have tackled it before.

Thanks,
Chuck
 
#2 ·
I do some furniture repair. Disassemble them as far as possible. If you simply cannot get a piece apart...well I guess it is still a good joint :laughing:. Yea, you want to remove the old glue, just be careful not to sand off too much wood. It will make the joints loose, glue will fill them, but just go bad again eventually like you have now. The tighter the wood fit the better.

You asked about good joints locking in bad ones. I bet you will find once you start taking them apart, they may not be as good as you thought ?
 
#3 ·
My farther has an old rocker that his farther had for a long time. It is made out of oak and it was coming apart. It is about 80 years old and was outside for many years. Therefore, I took it apart all the way and it had about 10 coats of paint. I remove the paint and then started taking it apart, take your time taking it apart. I will take a pic of it the next time go there and post it. Just take your time, the rockers where worn out so I made new ones out of Cypress. Now it is back on the front porch.
 
#4 ·
Thanks

Thanks guys. So mostly take it apart with a reasonable amount of force then? I'm thinking of using some blocking and maybe cardboard or cloth to protect the surfaces and then a rubber mallet to tap things loose.

After cleaning up the mating surfaces, I'm thinking of using Titebond II. I've had good luck with it in other projects with new wood. Anything special required in the glue since this is old mahogoney?

Thanks,
Chuck
 
#5 ·
B4 you start taking your chairs apart

check out a product that Rockler sells called "wonder-lok-em" (spelling?). I keep this on hand in my shop to hand out to people looking to have chairs fixed. It eliminates the nuisance jobs that consume a lot of time with very little in the way of cash return. I have to say that in the 3 years I have been using/dispensing it, it has never let me down. No dissassembly required. Just apply it at the joint and the magic happens. In no time at all, you have a tight joint that will not loosen. No, I don't know how it works, I just know that it does. I just sell it at my cost and benefit by the return visits that frequently result in actual profitable work.

Ed
 
#6 ·
You can use a rubber mallet to loosen most joints. Use good solid blows. If a joint is not loose leave it alone, Virgin wood glues up best. When cleaning off the old glue don't use and abrasives like sand paper. Use a stiff knife to scrape off the glue. Do not remove any wood or your joint will be too loose to glue properly as Daren said. You can use TBII if you need the water resistance but standard TB (white) will dry clearer and is plenty strong.
Clamp the joints over night and a strap clamp may make life easier. Make sure when you do re-assemble the chair that it is sitting on a flat table or floor so all 4 legs are evenly touching the floor. It is hard to tell when on its back or side. You want it straight while the glue dries.
If you have loose joints, take some very thin fabric, and cut strips the size of the dowel, apply glue to the dowel, place the fabric over the dowel and apply glue on the fabric also. The amount of fabric being equal to the amount needed to take up the space. And make sure it is absorb-able fabric. I use to use what is called cambric. but it isn't made with fabric anymore. Very thin. Like a cheesecloth will do. If you need more than one strip cross them over the dowel.
 
#9 ·
c1856,

I think you're smart, sticking with Titebond II. Years ago I attempted to re-glue the legs of my wife's, grandmother's rocking chair with Gorilla glue. The glue expanded so much that it broke through the top of the seat. It ripped open a huge sliver about 2" wide and 6" long just above the left, rear leg. The gap between the two pieces was now filled with dried glue foam so I knew there was no fixing it. The chair had to be scrapped. I felt really bad.:thumbdown:
 
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#10 · (Edited)
Ken, did you attribute that glue expansion to a difference between Titebond and titebond II? I have TBII on hand and have had good results with it. My limited knowledge is that the glues present a risk just as much for pulling the wood in (creating craters/dimples" as they do for pushing it out (splitting).

I'm probably going to grab some regular TB and then try TB and TBII on different joints in the first chair I do and see how they fare. And if I get too medievel with my clamps....well, there's also pocket screws! :yes: Any port in a storm right?:laughing:

Chuck
 
#12 ·
reglue chairs

you can use denatured alcohol injected with a syringe and needle into the joint. give it time to work, will usually work. you may want to mark each joint with masking tape and number them so you can arange the pieces back to their original places. alcohol can cause spots on finish so wipe any that bleeds off. be sure to assemble on a flat surface so your chair won't wobble. I would glue every joint if you can get it apart. Good luck
 
#14 ·
original glue?

you can use denatured alcohol injected with a syringe and needle into the joint. give it time to work, will usually work. you may want to mark each joint with masking tape and number them so you can arange the pieces back to their original places. alcohol can cause spots on finish so wipe any that bleeds off. be sure to assemble on a flat surface so your chair won't wobble. I would glue every joint if you can get it apart. Good luck
This is a good suggestion, especially if the original glue was hide glue. It is soluble by alcohol or hot water. A good deal of furniture used to be made with hide glue, so if they're old, you've got an even chance that they were. Even better, when you get the joints apart, the hide glue can be cleaned off instead of sanded or rasped off, resulting in better integrity of the wood.

By the way, many musical instruments are still made with hide glue. I know a violin maker who uses it religiously, after being a violin repair woman for ages. She taught me how to disassemble a violin for major repairs (I repaired and rebuilt an antique which had gotten sat on) and then reassemble it. If not for the hide glue's solubility, it would not have been possible.
 
#17 · (Edited)
loose jionts

you can take a maple board and a hand plane set for a fine cut and plane the edge , then glue the shaving around the tendon or on one side of a flat tendon. works very well to tighten up a loose joint. maple shavings stay together better than most other woods. I have a board thats 1x4x24 inchs that I keep just for this reason.
 
#20 ·
I am also in the process of cleaning up old dining room chairs and appreciate all the advice for gluing them. I almost used Gorilla Glue and am glad I did not. It does expand alot. Also for the wood planing/advice. My mom used to use toothpicks. However, I am more perplexed about how to get a good "clamp" in such awkward places. Can anyone help me with this? I want as tight a joint as possible since I have some squirmy kids.
 
#22 ·
I am also in the process of cleaning up old dining room chairs and appreciate all the advice for gluing them. I almost used Gorilla Glue and am glad I did not. It does expand alot. Also for the wood planing/advice. My mom used to use toothpicks. However, I am more perplexed about how to get a good "clamp" in such awkward places. Can anyone help me with this? I want as tight a joint as possible since I have some squirmy kids.
Hi Josie - Gorilla glue is a good choice as it does expand and fill any gaps created by cleaning the old glue off. The example posted previously about the stuff expanding out so much is a great example of over gluing.
For clamping, I found ratchet straps do a good job on odd size/shaped pieces. Sometimes takes some head scratching to figure out how to wrap the thing though:smile:
 
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#23 ·
Round joints will eventually work loose again if they do not have a taper. The early chair makers used hide glue so the joints could be periodically taken apart and reassembled.
Using epoxy, urethane or other insoluble glue may make this fix easier but will make the next fix very difficult so be sure you have considered this. You can still get hide or fish glues and add a bit of dust if you want to gap fill.
 
#24 ·
Thanks again for everyone's advice. With four chairs (and two arm chairs to go), I tried a little of everything. Most of my joints were tight and some had no apparent glue. I tried wrapping a bit of cheesecloth with the Titebond on the ones that were loose. And I tried using Gorilla Clue in some of the deeper grooves in the chair. I tried looking for hide glue but found none is there a brand name? I used a combination of clamps, and made "strap" braces from strips of tightly woven cloth and screw drivers, etc. So far, so good.. I loved reading all the posts - you have been generous with your comments and helped me alot.
 
#27 ·
Back in the 1970's while traveling around the country, we ran into a guy, called, "The Chair Man" He was driving around the Mid West, buying single oak chairs. He bought single chairs, because they were cheaper than sets.
He would knock them apart with a mallot, and pile the parts in his truck.
When he got back to his shop, with a truckload, he would sort the parts, refinish and assemble chair sets, and sell them.
 
#28 ·
I am currently in a similar situation and trying to repair a rocking chair for my mother. I have it completely disassembled and am wondering if I should re-glue with WonderLok 'Em (as Ed and the guy at the Rockler store has suggested) or should I be using Titebond III? I want this to be the last time I have to do this and need to make sure it will hold up to the wear and tear it gets every day.

Bill
 
#30 ·
Sorry that my last reply was unclear.
A Round wood tenon in a hole glued perpendicular to the grain is doomed to work loose if it undergoes seasonal moisture change like in most of our homes. Like a wooden hammer handle in a steel hammer head.
If the fit is tight when the wood is dry, it WILL expand a bit when the humidity is up for long. If the tenon swells much (such as when the tangential grain is oriented in the long axis of the grain around the hole) there can be enough expansion in the non expandable space to cause compression crushing of the tenon.
Now when the tenon be it a chair rung or a axe head dries, the crushed fibres will not elastically expand to keep the hole full and the joint will be loose. It may need to be taken apart and reassembled.
If an insoluble glue was used , the joint cleanup is much more difficult.
Therefore, epoxy, TB II or III or urethane are less desirable.
A hide or fish glue that can be softened with water is more easy to repair.
You can Try to prevent this with tapered or wedged tenons or with blind or open wedges.
Orienting any dowel / tenon so the long grain direction of the hole lines up with the radial direction of the tenon will help.
Overly loose joints can be "filled" with bits of wood such as veneer or just some sawdust in the glue to better gap fill.
It probably will come loose again in a few years or moisture cycles! You don't want to be the one responsible for the horrible cleanup whether it's you or the next repairer.
There is at least one product thar tries to re-expand the crushed fibres to tighten the joints.
I hope I expressed that "more better" .
 
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