Re-assembling some old chairs - Glue Question

Brent Dowell

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co, We've got some old Duncan Phyfe chairs. The table and chairs did belong to Sharons family. But they have been pretty thoroughly abused over the years. Most of the chairs succumbed to glue failure some time ago. I took them apart and put them in a box.

We are thinking that gee, until I get my infamous maple table and chairs put together, I might as well re-assemble some of these. Might make it easier to get rid of the table someday as well if it came with more than just 2 chairs.

My questions are;

  • What is the best way to clean up the old glue from the dowel holes?
  • In the attached picture you can see that some of the joings 'mesh' together. Anything to do to clean the glue up there?
  • What kind of refinishing options should I consider? Right now I'm thinking just a wipe down with murphy's oil soap and leave it be.

Thanks in advance! :wave:

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The dowels pretty much fell out. There might be a few places where there is some wood in there, but the glue failure was just about 100%
 
Found the perfect tool for scraping out the old glue from the grooves...

(my narrow parting tool for turning) :eek:

Well, Seems like mechanical means is best for getting rid of the old hide glue. What little was there was all crusty and dry and scraped off easily.

I don't have any suitable epoxy right now, so I think I'll just glue up the first one with some regular titebond.
 
The dowels pretty much fell out. There might be a few places where there is some wood in there, but the glue failure was just about 100%
I'd still drill them out the next larger size so that you're gluing to fresh wood. Also, I find that the original size dowel is usually pretty loose in the old hole.

Mike
 
I just did that with a set of chairs brought to me by a guy at work. The solution was to do exactly what Mike suggests: drill out the holes and use the next larger dowel and epoxy them together.

Glue failure wasn't the total reason for the joints' failure. Over time and with the racking forces that chairs inevitably have to face, the holes themselves get widened. Glue alone doesn't bridge gaps very well, with the possibly exception of epoxy, so just re-gluing the dowels isn't going to last very long. There are only two solutions that will last longer than what you have: larger dowels and routing mortises into both rails and legs and use floating tenons.

The reason to use epoxy is, as Bob Smalser has so definitely demonstrated, epoxy glues very well to itself in the event the joint needs to be reglued.

Now, as to the corner braces, I made a jig to clean up the slots of the braces on the table saw. It beat the dickens out of scraping those slots by hand. The slots on the rails, well, those had to be scraped by hand just because I couldn't think of another way. I glued those with liquid hide glue.
 
By the way, Brent,

make sure you get some good hardwood dowels. The ones I found locally were poplar, and those just won't last very well. Hold out for maple, birch or oak. I got mine at Rockler (but then there is a Rockler store about an hour from me).
 
Bruce said:
Over time and with the racking forces that chairs inevitably have to face, the holes themselves get widened.

Yes, very important to realize during the repair process. I have repaired/restored a number of old chairs. I use regular Titebond. But, I find the manufactured dowels work best. They tend to swell into place and hold well. But, I often also cross-pin the dowels with round toothpicks. Works for me.
One caveat: Don't use Gorilla glue. :eek: DAMHIK :(
 
Chair repair can be very tricky. I've found that if the fitting parts are close enough, but with a very small gap, just reusing the parts with a two part epoxy makes for a good joint. In trying to clean up glue, its possible to change the fit with inordinate excavation. IOW, the parts no longer are close fitting.

Drilling out to the next larger size hole can be problematic. Dowels come in certain sizes. The next size larger may be to large for the joint area. Other considerations include whether the drill angle is correct. Many repair holes require an angle fitting dowel, that may be difficult to do by hand, or for some to configure with a drill press.



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I say "BURN EM". Fourth of July is coming and you need a bonfire for a fireworks show. :rofl::rofl: Then spend the time more productively and make some new ones. They will at least come with a manufacturer backed warranty.;):D

For what its worth Lee Valley has a variety of hardwood dowels and i think they have a shipping special deal on at present

http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=32721&cat=1,250,43217

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