idea for a fix

allen levine

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new york city burbs
the original chairs I made for my dining table approx. 5 years ago, one of them I have a problem with.
Its the chair that sits directly in front of the large radiator, and I think over the years with the chair always being pushed closed to against it, the steam heat has loosened some of the bottom glue joints. The chair is a bit wobbly and I noticed a few joints on the bottom are loose making the chair unsteady. All the joints on top are fine, so trying to break apart the chair and reglueing doesn't seem an option.
any suggestions?
 
I like the leevalley stuff. if I cant pry the bottom of the chair far enough apart to get glue in there, Im going to order that glue.
I can always drill a tiny hole underneath and inject some of it.
 
another thought would be try some more heat resistant glue allen like the powdered resin glue,, i like macks suggestion first though

Ive made around 15 chairs for indoor use, I never had a problem with joints getting loose.
I cant figure anything else out, other than that chair has been pushed against that hot radiator the entire winter.
I looked over the chair closely today.
I would have to drill holes in order to get that glue in, so I might just drill small holes into the tenons from the inside of the legs, peg them, and see if that's enough. The holes wont be noticeable once they are plugged.
When I get some more drive, Ill give it one more look.
The only other thing I could think of, is that perhaps I had old glue for that one chair, maybe glued it up in a cold garage, but its funny that the joint never failed until 5 years later.
 
Ive made around 15 chairs for indoor use, I never had a problem with joints getting loose.
I cant figure anything else out, other than that chair has been pushed against that hot radiator the entire winter...

I'm guessing the heat from the radiator has dried the moisture out of the chair, and the wood has shrunk a bit, loosening the tenons. It'd be interesting to use a moisture meter and compare that chair to the others.

How hot has the chair gotten? Both Titebond and hide glue will soften/lose strength when exposed to heat.
 
I'm guessing the heat from the radiator has dried the moisture out of the chair, and the wood has shrunk a bit, loosening the tenons. It'd be interesting to use a moisture meter and compare that chair to the others.

How hot has the chair gotten? Both Titebond and hide glue will soften/lose strength when exposed to heat.

its been sitting in front of the radiator at least this entire winter. I have no clue how hot it gets there. pretty sure it was titebond 2
 
its been sitting in front of the radiator at least this entire winter. I have no clue how hot it gets there. pretty sure it was titebond 2

Well... Hot water, or steam radiators? Hot water seldom exceeds 180°, but is usually a bit less than that - like 140° or so. Steam radiators get much hotter - enough to be pretty uncomfortable/painful to touch. Either way, though, radiators are dry heat, so they'll dry out anything in the room, and especially something so close to them.
 
Last chair I repaired from failed glue joints I disassembled, scraped all the old glue out of the joint and put it back together with a slow setting epoxy. The person had brought me that same stuff Lee valley sells and I just threw it in the trash.
 
I think Karl is right. About 10 years ago I saw a demo at a woodworking show using CA glue to fix loose chairs. It was quick, easy, and it worked. I personally felt the joints that were loose before and tight after using CA. Is it as good as taking the chair apart, removing the old glue, and then re-building the chair....probably not. But if you can fix it in 5 minutes and it only lasts 5 years, do you really care? CA won't bridge gaps, but if you have mating (but non-attached) surfaces, it can be quite strong. No, I've not tried it. But I would certainly try it before taking a chair all apart to fix it. If I were to guess, I'd say the stuff from Lee Valley is mostly CA. Just my opinion.
 
first off if you used yellow glue just injecting some glue into the failed joint will not form a lasting fit. yellow glue will not form a sufficient bond to old cured yellow glue. you have to clean the joints and start friesh.
I had to refinish and repair some chairs for a client a few years back and this worked wonders in getting the joints apart.
http://de-gluegoo.com/
took a little time and in some cases several applications working it into the joints but the end result allowed me to disassemble the chairs, clean the joints and re glue.
 
Bob that's "crazy glue" its good for small fixes but not that great for structural applications.
There was another line that came out several years ago and I tried it on a drawer front. I thought it was great because I could put a frame together in minutes.. well when I was going to install it I had it leaning against a door frame and accidentally knocked it over. it fell over and landed on its face I heard what sounded like glass breaking. it was the cyanoacrylate. 3 of the 4 joints broke and it came apart in my hands when I picked it up. I found lots of uses for it but structural applications are not one of them.
where I found it excelled though was in drawing miters together on moldings. I would use yellow glue on the joint but leave a few dry spots and put the crazy glue on those, cyanoacrylate contracts as it cures so it would draw the joint together. I could put a miter together and hold it till the cyanoacrylate bonded and that held the joint for the yellow glue to do its trick.
 
yup! After many years of avid fishing and learning that most supplies in a tackle shop are designed more to catch fishermen than fish I found many similarities in the woodworker market......:rofl:
 
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