I made this chair earlier this year and the back legs seem to be separating from the side rails, apparently from a glue failure or a tenon that was too loose to start with, or perhaps both reasons. I’ve put wooden corner braces on the rails so the chair isn’t falling apart when I sit in it but it seems to me I should fix the underlying problem. One approach might be removing the braces and gently shaking the back legs free, then re-gluing after making sure the tenons fit tightly.
Any ideas that don’t involve taking the chair apart?
Replies
chair fix?
if you drilled a small hole from the inside you could inject glue into the joint. But I wonder how well the glue would work inside a loose joint with whatever glue you used in the first place? Maybe a gap filling epoxy might do the trick?
Chair Stability
Side chairs without arms are prone to disjointing from wear. Especially if the chair is on carpet becasue folks tend to slide back and the legs are caught in the pile causing stress to the joint. Some manufacturers put a lag bolt through the corner brace - and others may use a barrel nut with a threaded bolt for the connection, but I'm unsure if that will now damage the joinery in your case. Good woodworking joints are always the best way when executed correctly. I would use the chair until it is loose enough to easily disassemble, and as the previous poster stated, reassemble with an epoxy - they sell one in HD that is a thick formula 5 minute type.
SA
very seldom does glue fail
on it's own merits. usually it is the maker and their inability to either execute the mechanics of a good joint or to understand the construction of the chair. the use of epoxy is for those that do not have the confidence in themselves to do the proper work required to make it hold up or they don't give a shit and just slap it together and hope that it works.
Take it apart and fix it before someone hurts themselves when it falls apart under them(why advertise that you didn't do a good job to start with. with no stretchers or arms to add support the addition of corner braces will not hurt it
ron
Lee Valley has a product.
Lee Valley has a product or did called the Chair Doctor. Its an adhisive which expanse the wood in the joint. The product is use by several folks which bought francise rights of some sort to start their own businss fixing Chairs as a lively hood. Lee Vally has been the only vendor which I have seen that sells the glue.
you will get the same
thing if you pee in the joint. it will make it swell up.
ron
Learn how to make Windsor chairs, they are one of the few all-wood chairs that will never come apart.
Blasphemy..
This is going to sound very unconventional, but I've successfully used polyurethane construction adhesive to repair low-end chairs that have come into my shop for repair.
Let me hasten to say that none of these chairs was worth a lick; they were poorly built and the joints came apart soon after they were purchased. To give them a little more service life I took them apart, cleaned out the joints, and filled the mortises with the construction adhesive. Jamming the tenons into those holes, clamping everything up overnight and cleaning off the squeeze-out the next day completed the repair.
Again, this isn't something I'd use for valuable antique chairs. But construction adhesive fills gaps very well, and is very tough and strong. It works for this application.
Before I tried it for the first time, I drilled some oversized holes in a block of scrap and glued in dowels. After letting the assembly cure, I tried to wrest the dowels free using hand pressure and then a pair of pliers. The dowels split and broke apart, but nothing came of out the holes.
Just a thought... Zolton
so you have 2 standards
of work. cheap and perhaps a little better. at what point do you do the proper repair
a customer comes in with a good chair that needs regluing and you quote them. they say that price is to high. then you say I can give you a better price by using pca glue; right. if it goes for a crap then it will be a terrible messs to clean up.
if you cannot do it properly, don't do it at all. if they are not worth anything don't do them, I would view you this way; if you can get away with a short cut and make more money' you are all for it. there are to many guys in this industry that take shortcuts which makes it more difficult for the industry as a whole. I get to repair this shit sometimes.
ron
thanks for the suggestions,
both conventional and non-conventional. Since this is my desk chair and I use it a lot, I think it'll be worth the effort to repair it properly, taking it apart and fixing the apparently loose tenons and then re-gluing.
Good point about the extra stress if the chair is on carpeting (mine is) although I'm careful not to slide it back. Nevertheless, I'll see if a lag bolt through the corner brace would work without compromising the joints, just to create a bit more stability.
Thanks again!
about the lag bolt
you have a junction there of the back and side rails. putting more into that area can make that area a little more weak. good fitting corner braces should be all that you need and lift your backside off the chair when ever you go backwards
ron
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