Fixing an Ikea Chair....

I know, I know, some will say "Why bother..?" well because my lovely wife asked me to

We bought four of these chairs at Ikea, I was not thrilled with them I figured they would not last long but they have lasted a few years.....

They cost about $49 each, which is cheap, I could not buy the wood for that much money, so I said OK, and we got four of them.


This is what they look like new, they are called "BÖRJE" and are supposed to be made from Birch wood.

I think it is plain to see that the front legs are not very well supported, only the very top two inches or so and that small piece of wood has a LOT of holes in it for dowels etc.

One broke and it was when my daughter was sitting on it, NOT me The grain of the wood in the most critical area did not run top to bottom but at more of a 45, this piece of wood should not have been used for this part of the chair.


This is how it looked all busted up, pieces rather loose.

I got out the glue and one of them injector things for white PVA glue and did a lot of fiddling to get the leg back in shape.....


All glued back together, I also ran thin CA glue down any where I thought it could help but that might just have been a waste of time...?

To stop this from happening again I thought to put a brace between the front legs......




I thought if I put it higher up it would be more out of the way from heels, but then it would be less effective, also if I put it at this height, you can rest your foot on it like a bar stool.

Will it last, dunno, but I think we shall find out, more importantly, Emiko is pleased

Cheers!

by looking at that last pic, i would expect the back leg to give out before the front ones. where the side joins the rear leg is a lousy place to have a load bearing joint. but then again, you did say it was ikea.... (which reminds me, i still have to attach the rest of the hardware to IVAR)

That back joint looks like it would be stronger with the finger joints there, but looks like it could use some more stretchers, one matching the front and two in the middle to tie them together. Might have prevented the issue in the first place.

Repair looks good though.

You didn't show the corner construction under the seat, but it doesn't look like there are any diagonal 'corner blocks' in there. I'd have added those at each corner as well.

Also, what about a couple fore & aft rungs to help keep it from racking?

Jim said: "Also, what about a couple fore & aft rungs to help keep it from racking?"

My thought also, Jim was quicker.

I got back to this today.

I tried to get a rail on each side, front to back....



I did end up being able to make test pieces that fit, both ends needed a double compound cut
That might be an easy thing for some, but I honestly had trouble wrapping my brain around it, and then when I did get both pieces to fit nicely....


..the problem of drilling for dowels just left me pulling out my hair

Many test cuts and pieces later, I changed plans and went for a rail between the back legs and one center rail to connect them.....



This was a LOT easier to do for a dummy like me


The back I could not use dowels in the end of the rails as I could not spread the legs without busting up the back on the chair, so I made a jig to drill a hole at an angle (much like a pocket hole jig) on the under side of the back rail, and then inserted a dowel. I then cut the dowel flush and did a bit of sanding, some finish and I think this will work....


As good as the side rail, I don't think so, but this should last a while, I hope.

Only three more chairs to do

Cheers!

Good solution Stu, Ain't chairs fun, ya need to make a few from scratch...

The outcome is good Stu but i am confused as to why the I of the rail is not orientated the other way so there is no bar in front. On a chair the racking would be more front to back than side to side. I think i missed understanding why you did not put it in the traddditional way.?


I will borrow or rather steal the idea of the wood beneath your bench hold downs.

Rob Keeble said:

The outcome is good Stu but i am confused as to why the I of the rail is not orientated the other way so there is no bar in front. On a chair the racking would be more front to back than side to side. I think i missed understanding why you did not put it in the traddditional way.?


I will borrow or rather steal the idea of the wood beneath your bench hold downs.

Click to expand...

Making the stretchers go front to back, on the sides involve making a double compound miter cut on each end, trust me, a few hours later and a BUNCH of practice pieces later, I was then confronted with how to drill the dowel holes, it was NOT going to work, so I went this way. I understand that the usual way the "H" would be turned 90 degrees, but that was not going to happen. The chairs are quite strong front to back, the leg broke because of side to side racking.

Cheers!

Don Baer said:

Good solution Stu, Ain't chairs fun, ya need to make a few from scratch...

Click to expand...

On my bucket list Don