Stabilizing wooden chairs

[wunbe]

We have kitchebn table and chairs set made of oak. Lots of good years behind but some doubt about the future.

The biggest problem is the chair legs' cross supports which come apart and resist new glues even in the short term. The issue sis partly one of shrinkage as the once tight fit is gone and the glues do not work in the now larger cavities.

The best fix I can see would be pinning the ends of the support pieces in the chair legs with a brad but I do not have the wood working shp tools for that.

Any hints or suggestions appreciated.

Thanks,

wunbe

 

[GRAMPS 51]

Hi I'm no expert but I have cut a piece of cotton fabric (like a patch on a round ball for a muzzle loader) soak it with your glue assemble it and clamp it It has worked well for me in the past good luck

Gramps

 

[pete44ru]

.

The stretchers & such are easily pinned, using a drill, a small drill bit, and small metal pins the size of the drill bit used.

Small diameter wooden pegs can be substituted for the metal pins.

Once upon a time, I used 1/8" wide Ebony pegs in an Oak chair - the color contrast looked great.

.

 

[Pat-inCO]

You might also look at JB Weld, two part epoxy.

 

[RoninPA]

Oh my, there are a myriad of ways to fix chair/table legs. You can google "chair leg repair" and you'll get hundreds of hits.

If there is a woodworkers/hardware store near you they can point you in any number of directions depending on your skill level and the tools available.

You can get perforated metal strips (looks like a callus remover - holes pinched through with sharp edges on the other side). Cut so that you can curl it up inside the mortise and use epoxy to secure it (clean out all the old glue residue first) then clean the glue residue from the tenon, use a knife to put some grooves in the tenon and put the glue on the tenon and tap it in. The rough sides of the metal band will help secure everything. Then clamp them tight if you have clamps that will fit (old woodworker saying when wife thinks you have too many clamps in the shop - "you never have enough clamps".) Funny thing is you never have enough clamps.

If you don't have clamps and do have ratchet tie downs, use those (especially when you put the legs and stretchers all together, ratchet tie downs work great to clamp all 4 legs tight against the stretchers.

Another fix is to remove the affected parts, clean out/clean off all the old glue and then reglue and fill the voids with toothpicks. Tap/pound them in with a small hammer and a piece of dowel rod. The toothpicks will absorb some of the glue also and should swell a bit and that should tighten the joint. Again, after doing the above, clamp everything tight.

 

[eveled]

I used short drywall screws at an angle from the bottom through the cross piece and into the leg. It was a quick repair on chairs I didn't care about. Gave the chairs away after a couple of years they were still solid.

 

[powder smoke]

If you can get it apart put a slice in the end of the dowel that goes into the hole,
Add a wedge in it and good wood glue. When the wedge hits bottom it will drive
into the dowel and expand it! make a nice tight joint. Make sure you use a thin
kurf saw not to remove too much of the dowel. Those Japanese pull saws work nice.
YMMV good luck. ps

 

[Jimbo357mag]

You might also look at JB Weld, two part epoxy.

Two part epoxy, the slow set kind, (30+ minutes) will fill gaps and be solid. I have also had good luck gluing things with Gorilla glue, the thick polyurethane kind, a little dampness on one of the pieces helps the bond.

 

[toysoldier]

If you can get it apart put a slice in the end of the dowel that goes into the hole,
Add a wedge in it and good wood glue. When the wedge hits bottom it will drive
into the dowel and expand it! make a nice tight joint. Make sure you use a thin
kurf saw not to remove too much of the dowel. Those Japanese pull saws work nice.
YMMV good luck. ps

This, and urethane (gorilla) glue. I reglued a spindle-back rocker this way, and it held for years.

 

[blume357]

Screw it!... I'm not kidding.. that's always been my solution with things like this... drill a pilot hole a bit longer than the screw then another hole about a 1/4" to a half inch deep for the screw head... you can get a shim that will tighten on the drill bit to keep it from digging deeper than the depth you want.... then cut a short piece of wooden dowel in the diameter or slightly larger than the diameter of that hole diameter and glue it in and after the glue has set sand off the excess.... this last part of the wooden dowell and counter sunk hole are optional and only for looks....

 

[Mobuck]

In an antique store in some obscure town I visited out West was a set of kitchen chairs with similar problems that had been repaired with wrappings of rawhide. Price $450 per set of 4. Just waiting for a sucker to come along.

 

[DeletedMember275]

I have used brass stock repair pins and Acraglas, both from Brownells in the past for a PERMANENT repair.

 

[rob-c]

I am in the process of refurbishing our kitchen cabinets and JB weld makes a wood weld that I am very impressed with. Won't shrink and can be drilled.i think the combination of this and the wedge in the dowel end would work great.