Hi – I usually post on the garden forum, but needed some advice – I hope someone hear can help.
I am about to reupholster an old arm/wing chair. This is not a fine antique – just a good piece of old furniture. It belonged to my grandparents, so I’d guess it is 60-80 years old.
I had this chair stored in the basement for several years, which was fairly damp. Several years ago I removed all the old upholstery and got as far as retying the springs, when the project was interrupted. We moved last fall, and have had the chair stored in a spare bedroom. When I started thinking about finally getting around to making it usable, I realized that the chair is wobbly. I think that the change in humidty must have damaged the glue in the joints, and I need to fix this somehow.
Do I have to take the chair totally apart to do this? The joints don’t seem loose enough to come apart easily. I’d like to get this done as easily as possible, but am also aware that it is much, much easier to fix this now, than after I have put in all the work or reupholstering the chair.
Also, can anyone recommend a good glue to use?
Any advice you can offer will be appreciated.
Replies
I'd suspect you'll need to take it apart -- when you consider how much work and $$ it costs to reupholster it, you'll want it to be structurally very sound. Being a wing-backed chair, it'll be all that more interesting to re-glue.
Is there a furniture restorer in your area? You might want to have them do it. They will have the clamps and know-how to get it done quickly and "squarely". You might want to gather info here on the best glue to use, just so you can ask some educated questions and get a feel for how intelligent the folk(s) seem to be.
If you decide to attempt it youself, best of luck!
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
There is a product called Chair Doctor glue. You can find out more about it at http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.asp?page=30261&SID=&ccurrency=2&category=1%2C110
Hi Ellen,regluing chairs can be very fustrating.I've reglued around 100 chairs in the last 28 years and have cursed my way though half of them,I would take Forest Girl's advice and find a pro. restorer.
If the chair is that old it probably was glued with Hide glue, if so it is ready to be reglued. The experts consider 50 years is the life of hide glue. A sharp rap with a soft mallet or a deadblow hammer will separate the joints (be sure there are no hidden nails,screws etc). Then scrape off most of the old glue. Get some of the ready made Hide glue and put it back together Both the yellow glue and hide glue will be affected by heat, but the hide glue has a distinctive smell, like UGH! By all means DON'T use a non reversible glue like epoxy as this piece will someday BE an antique and the non reversable glue will ruin it if it has to be repaired. BTW reupholsering does not affect the value of an antique. Good luck and remember to label any parts that can be mixed up as they will!
Frank (Uncle Fixit)
I agree 1000% with Frank about not using an irreversible glue. The old wingbacks are getting harder and harder to find (we used to get a premium for them in our store), and you want it to be able to be restored again 30, 40 or 50 years from now.
The recommendation to have a pro do it stands. I've glued alot of stuff back together over the years, but for complete re-gluing of chairs, I take them to the local re-finisher and let him do it.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Uncle Fixit
"the hide glue has a distinctive smell, like UGH!"
Boy does it! But it's really something how even a pungent odor like that can stir up memories. Because that smell always reminds me of working with my father in our basement shop, I love it. (Along with the smell of machine oil mixing with sawdust as always happened on the jigsaw - the only piece of power equipment that I was allowed to use before age 6.)
Rich
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