You would be better off using oak

 

Thank you

 

Cedar is a very soft wood and I would not recommend using it for this repair.
It took some major abuse to break the original tenon. Since the chair is only two weeks old it must have been dropped or damaged during delivery
A proper repair might be making a double tenon out of Oak. One end of this new tenon would go into the mortise you’ve cleaned out and the other end would go into the other piece in a new mortise you cut to accept it. The new double tenon will be made twice as long as the old tenon and secure bot pieces back.
This will be a significant repair and if you don’t have the tools you may want to take this to a professional.
I don’t like your idea of using hardware to make the repair.

 

I thought the metal connecting bolts would prevent a thing like this for happening again. I used a hammer and a chisel to get the broken pieces out but I don’t have any significant woodworking tools but I figured my amateur repair couldn’t really be worse than the current 3 broken pieces 😞

 

If, during normal use, I had a chair only 2 months old that broke like that, my first concern would be why??? I would be suspicious that if one joint broke then other joints may also be suspect. I would also be looking into what warranties are available.

On the other hand, if the damage was not during normal use then I would go ahead with a repair.

Since you are totally new to woodworking, Do you have any tools. Would you be able to make a floating tenon and the associated mortise?

George

 

Floating tenon is probably the correct term rather than “double tenon” which I used above. But I meant the same thing. Probably the best way to make this repair. :icon_smile:

 

I have a funny feeling it was put together with dominoes. In any case cedar shouldn't be used for anything structural. Since the broken wood has been chiseled out you might buy some dominoes and glue them in with two part epoxy. If the joint is around the seat where it doesn't show from the back side it would be helpful to glue some corner blocks to re-enforce the joint.

 

I’m not sure if you’re serious about the dominos but if you are, whoa 😲 🤯 that would be a lot easier than sanding a piece of oat to tightly fit the holes I chiseled out but would they go deep enough to give structural support? The break is right in the leg joint actually so it would definitely show but I’ve spray painted the metal braces so it would look so out of place if I screwed them in. Not far from where it broke they actually have a connecting bolt that runs through the entire 4 inch length of wood that why I was thinking add more connecting bolts like the ones on the non-broken side.

 

That isn't the way furniture is normally made. What you have is some of the worst made furniture I've ever seen. It's unimaginable a factory would turn out work like that.

I can't imagine a shop re-mortising those parts for you. Not only would it be more trouble than they could charge you for it they would feel liable for the joint. You could take a hand held electric drill with a brad point drill bit and go deeper with the mortise and then chisel it out square. Then make a homemade domino to fit the mortise. You just have to be careful to keep the hole with square sides.

 

😮 Wow, I had no idea it was so bad. If the chair hadn’t broken and I hasn’t found this forum, I would have had no idea it was so badly made. I questioned what I saw (shallow depth of joints and how they weren't squarely placed in the middle of the wood pieces) when I was drilling out the broken pieces but I was totally taken in and fooled by “solid wood constitution,” “no assembly required” and of course, the cost of the chair <sigh>. How is someone supposed to know if the furniture is properly made or not if you can’t see the joinings? I’ll go with the drill bit and chisel for now and look into the Beadlock system that Catpower told me about. Thanks again for helping me with this.