There is a back panel that has frame pieces around it with mitered ends. The miters have come apart. I’ve scraped and sanded off all the old glue and am down to wood which I think is mahogany. Here’s the question – the miters have gaps 1/8 inch and less which given it’s location in the chair I don’t think I can pull together much closer. I can add thin pieces of wood to try and get it closer. While I don’t like the idea of using epoxy with furniture, in this case I was thinking of using it since it can handle wider gaps and is strong. What do you think of the epoxy idea??? Thanks
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Replies
Need some photos
+1... Gotta see it.
I use epoxy a lot in making furniture. Any time I have a complicated glue-up that will take a lot of time, I use long set epoxy instead of Titebond III, as the water in the yellow glue can cause the joint wood to swell before you can get the clamps on, making it hard to get the joint all the way together. And, there is the advantage that the epoxy acts as a lubricant if something goes wrong and you need to get the joint(s) back apart. I recently was glueing up a dovetail box with a floating solid wood bottom panel, and had the dovetails together and the first clamp on when I noticed the bottom panel sitting by itself on the bench! Rubber mallet knocked the joints apart, I put the panel in, refreshed the glue slightly, and all was well.
The other thing about epoxy, not widely known, is that, like hide glue, it is reversible if you can soak it for a day or two with acetone. I once had another glue-up go wrong, this time when a part shifted when I thought the epoxy had set up (but hadn't) and then it did set up overnight, with the piece in the wrong place. I called the epoxy tech line, and was told about the acetone. I used a very small drill bit to drill a hole into the joint, and a syringe to inject acetone for a day or two, and the joint slid apart.
I have also found epoxy to be the only glue that will hold old chairs together for any length of time, especially factory chairs. My own dining chairs were bought used by my parents around 1960. I remember my father gluing them back together in the '60s with plastic resin glue, which meant that I was gluing them back together with Titebond in the '70s and '80s, and then was finally using epoxy in the early 2000s. It's the only glue that has held them together.
I'm sure there will be others who recommend hide glue. It's just not in my repertoire as often as epoxy.
I'm not thinking of a glue solution here. Seems like something is in the way or loose somewhere else if there is a 1/8 inch gap. I'd start with figuring that out. Glue or such in the rabbet or groove for the panel? Other members loos and a bit out of place?
I agree that there is a problem causing the gap....find the offending part and the gap will go away.
Is it possible that in sanding off the glue you've also accidentally removed some wood (maybe up to about 1/16 on each piece)? This would create an up to 1/8 gap that would be fairly impossible to close.
That's the only other option that makes sense to me aside from what others have already said.
Can you assemble it well without the panel?
If so, the panel need adjusting.
I suspect the problem has been caused by the panel being just a tad over large, and now it has expanded.
If in the end you don't have any other option, I would most definitely fill the gap with wood and possibly add dowels, but try to find why it does not fit together and correct that for a lasting repair.