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Chair repair

N

NickM

Old Oak
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I've been asked to have a go at fixing this broken chair:

IMG_3494.jpeg

IMG_3493.jpeg

It's a classic short grain break. Any thoughts on how to tackle it?

I fear someone has tried to repair it before and it has failed. The gap doesn't close up brilliantly and I wonder if that's because there is dried glue in there. I can open the joint a little so might be able to scrape it out a bit and re-glue it.

Would a very small dowel or pin help? I could possibly put one in from beneath and hide it somewhat where near the shaped splat.

Also, any thoughts on what glue to use? I'm leaning towards PVA as the strongest. Alternatives might be epoxy which could help if there are some small gaps in the joint? Epoxy would also be better if I put in a small brass pin across the joint. Another alternative would be liquid hide glue which might be easier to "undo" if the repair doesn't work.

I can probably disguise any remaining minor surface blemishes with wax.

Thoughts gratefully appreciated.
 
I'd be tempted to try and see if the whole chair was glued with hide glue, and dis-assemble the entire top rail. Apply heat after soaking with a bit of water, and just see if you can tease a joint apart. The break would be so much easier to repair if you had it apart on your bench. I just don't see how you could manipulate it enough to clean off old glue and insert a pin or dowel without doing damage to one or two of the other joints.

If it was glued previously with hide glue then I would re-glue with the same, as it is one of the big advantages of the stuff: new glue sticks to old glue.

It looks like it could do with a bit of a polish.
 
I think what mike has said about teasing the corner joint apart would be a first go to. If you can't ease the corner joint apart I'd be tempted to use a dovetail saw on the corner saw it through then tease the broken joint apart clean it for re-fitting.

I would be very tempted to use expoy glue or cascamite when re-fitting and fit a loose tenon in the corner if you had to saw the joint. You should then be able to colour match with polish to the original.
 
If the chair would be able to come apart as mentioned above, I'd consider looking at the way guitar necks are repaired when they've broken at the nut after a fall. If there's a mechanical, or near fit, then grooves are routed across the join and split dowels are glued in the grooves across the join.

I'm sure there's videos across the internet. I've even seen Julyan on the repair shop do it.
 
Looks like it was re-glued with polyurethane glue? Because that expands into a foam that is waterproof and impervious to most chemicals it will be very difficult to thoroughly clean the gluing surfaces without dismantling the upper part of the chair to gain clear access to both sides of the crack. If any of the polyurethane glue is left in place you will have a very difficult time gluing the part back together because most glues do not stick to it, you ideally need to scrape it all back to bear timber or use epoxy resin.
 
Thanks for the responses.

I had a look at this today. It has been glued with PU glue and that has made it tricky. I did manage to do a pretty good job of scraping it out though.

I also couldn't get the chair apart despite heating some joints.

I've currently tried re-glueing with hide glue but I'm not convinced I've got it clamped together tightly enough. Part of the issue is that the slat isn't properly seated in its lower joint. It's about 6mm out. That means the broken parts won't close up completely. I couldn't get the slat to move down any lower.

I'll take the clamps off tomorrow and see what has happened, but I might need to try again.
 
Isn't that just always the way, Nick! Fundamentally, if one piece or joint is broken, it would be a bit of a miracle if it were the only one....just because of geometry. I think you'll probably end up taking things apart enough to re-seat the slat, and to release the broken piece altogether. Don't forget, hide glue needs water as well as heat to take it apart..
 
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