Replies

1. 
   RalphBarker | Aug 02, 2012 10:53am | #3

   Spindle 'spansion

   I would glue them, since there should be minimal expansion/contraction along their length, and what there is should be essentially the same as the other parts of the back. I'd use a glue with fairly long "open time", since alignment can be a challenge.

1. 
   dutch277 | Jul 31, 2012 05:54pm | #1

   alignment and finishing

   Thanks for your reply Ralph,

   I added a few photos where im at. Your right that the spindles are tough to align, especially since they are bent, and numbers on some of the spindles got cleaned off.

   So, I needed to fit each spinle individually, and mark its direction.

   The head board is screwed on now, as you can see from the photo. Once the spindles are glued, I won't be able to remove the headboard. Since I'm goin to poly the headboad (paint the remainder), guess I'll wait to glue after this step.

   I don't see an advantage of not to glue, unless I need to take the headboard off again.

   What about giving the bottom of the seat a coat of oil-based paint too?  But, I've never seen bottoms of furniture painted......any reason not to?    ......or is this a 'finishing' topic question?

   The wood is dried out since sitting in the barn for 5 or so years. It's also damp in there at times, which is probably why the seat broke down the middle when I pulled it out last month to fix the rungs.

    

   
1. 
   RalphBarker | Aug 02, 2012 10:52am | #2

   Features and Failures

   The seat center joint probably failed because of the prior repair attempt with plumber's tape, which restricted expansion. Or, the old glue might have simply failed, prompting the attempted repair. Hard to say at this point.

   I'd start with repairing the seat with a fresh, clean joint(s), and then work from there. Note that the other parts of the chair will move, or flex slightly, with the expansion/contraction of the seat. For example, as the seat expands and contracts, the distance between the rockers will vary slightly between seasons.

   It is unlikely that the turned back spindles were originally curved. If they are now, that's most likely a matter of warpage over time due to improper grain alignment when the chair was made. (These weren't expensive chairs when they were (factory) made, so attention to such details was probably lacking.) Along the same manufacturing line, the interesting detail in the top rail of the back is likely pressed into the wood, rather than being carved. The spindles might have been free-floating when the chair was originally made. I wouldn't see a problem in doing the same when you reassemble the chair (assuming a reasonably tight fit between the diameter of the spindles and the holes in the seat and top rail), since the encapsulating parts will be glued.

   Many of these old chairs were made of what would be deemed "secondary" wood, and were intended to be painted, rather than stained and varnished. They were chairs for "average" people (my grandmother had a couple of them of similar design), not the rich. I'd lean toward painting it again, perhaps using one of the popular "antiquing" techniques. The choice is yours, of course.

1. 
   dutch277 | Aug 03, 2012 12:03am | #4

   I'm just a novice and trying to save the chair. A friend offered to throw the rocker on his burn pile. This is by no means as nice as alot of furniture I've seen on this site.

   The metal strapping is part of the repair. lol    The seat was glued together, and the strapping is just for re-inforcement in case the glue joint fails. Pictures below show how the chair was. In the first photo, the seat is held together by the bungee cord.

   The back spindles are a little loose since I can turn them back and forth a little until  the warpage restricts them. There is about 1/4 inch play up and down on most of the spindles. So, maybe I'll glue them to tighten them up.

   I was going to paint (oil-based) the rocker like before, and polyurathane the headboard. Should I paint the bottom of the seat to add oil to the wood, since the wood is dried out? But I never seen bottoms of furniture painted.

   Thanks for your comments Ralph.

   
1. 
   RalphBarker | Aug 03, 2012 09:44am | #5

   Suggestions

   I would ditch the plumber's tape, so the wood can freely expand and contract. If you are concerned about the seat breaking again, you could add a one-by support strut(s). But, be sure to attach it with screws through elongated holes - a half inch or so, with the screws (one near each end) just "sorta tight".

   The spindle holes can be tightened up by slipping little tubes of veneer into the holes. (If you want to go to that much trouble.)

   I would paint both sides of the seat, so that moisture absorbtion is equalized between the top and bottom surfaces. Uneven moisture content leads to warpage.