I needed to repair a loose arm on what I believe now is a reproduction chair. Probably 40 to 45 years old. I guess the styling made me believe it was assembled with hide glue. The joints are either end grain to end grain or end grain to side grain all with dowels. What I found was some sort of pva glue that appeared in areas where it was thicker to have a slight texture (rather than a shiny flat surface) and dried as semi transparent. Heat softens it a bit and water softens it a bit more.
(1) Do I need to completely remove all of the adhesive to have any new glue hold. And (2) was there a pva that could have been used back then that was somewhat reversable like hide glue?
Replies
1. I have seen the type glue you are describing, but don't know what it is. Agree that it sort of has characteristics of both.
2. All old glue MUST be removed before reglueing, or strength will be sacrificed.
Have you ever worked w/mohawk finishing super grip? That says it will dry clear. But I'm thinking I might need something that has gap filling capabilities, like maybe the new titebond thick and ? . Thats because of the places I saw the old glue pool.
I thought new hide glue will stick to old hide glue, but its not worth a gamble if you're not sure what it is.
It might also be cascamite, which can be mixed to the users needs.
Whatever it is, it should be removed
Highly unlikely that hide glue was used on a 45 year old chair out of a production factory.
If you can determine that hide glue was used, the old glue does not have to be removed.
Its definitely some sort of pva glue. I'm not sure how compatible any of the pva type glues are with each other. I guess I'm trying to avoid having to scrape the glue out of all that end grain.
PVA will soften with heat and water.
I would not call it 'reversible' but then I never plan on reversing my joints.
if someone loves my work enough in the future to fix it up then I'm sure they'll find a way - a thin pullsaw followed by a Domino is a sure fire method!
All the glue needs to be removed and the joint made tight somehow.
In my original post I identified the glue as pva. I was mostly concerned with getting a good bond because of the end grain contact which is a poor structural joint to start with and removing the glue from the dowels, holes and endgrain is asking for sloppy joints. And sloppy joints and pva do not go well together.
Anyways, all surfaces are cleaned except the holes which I hope to do later today. I was hoping to get a review on anyones experience with the Mohawk Super Grip and if it had any gap filling capabilities. It is possibly a candidate for what the original glue may have been (or something similar). A lot of the pva's back then did not dry clear.
Regardless, I appreciate all of your help and comments. I work more with hide glue on these type of repairs. So, production glues from that time period i don't know a lot about, because I haven't dealt with them. So thank you!
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