Wood Glue Solution

Karbel · 03-29-2007, 02:36 PM

Hello,

I have a couple of wooden dining room chairs that keep coming apart. I can wedge the pieces back into the holes, but they don't stay for very long. A friend of mine said all I needed was some wood glue. Is this true and if so, do I need to put any weights on it or keep it upside down or anything like that while the glue is drying? Also, how long should I let it dry? Like 24 hours?..

Thanks so much!

DavidF · 03-29-2007, 03:04 PM

Originally Posted by Karbel

Hello,

I have a couple of wooden dining room chairs that keep coming apart. I can wedge the pieces back into the holes, but they don't stay for very long. A friend of mine said all I needed was some wood glue. Is this true and if so, do I need to put any weights on it or keep it upside down or anything like that while the glue is drying? Also, how long should I let it dry? Like 24 hours?..

Thanks so much!

There are claims made for wicking glues like "chair magic" etc, but to be perfectly honest I think you would be doing it many times. Depending on how loose they are; you may be able to get some wood glue in there and get some clamping pressure. There are a few more permanent solutions such as pinning the tenons into the mortises (I assume it is the rear leg joins! Or taking those joins apart and adding veneer cheeks to the tenons to make the joints tighter. Or remove the tenon, and make a mortise for loose tenon joinery - Other than that, no problem

DaveO · 03-29-2007, 03:22 PM

If it is the leg tenons like DavidF mentions, and they still are a fairly tight fit. You could use regular Titebond yellow wood glue (available at Lowe's) and some ratcheting cargo straps to clamp the legs tight while the glue dries (about 30 minutes clamp time/24 hrs. to full strength cure). If the situation is much looser than that a epoxy would be your best bet, you would still want to use the straps to clamp, but not need as much pressure, and your dry time could be as little as 5 minute (wait 24 hrs before sitting on them

)
If you could post a picture of these chairs and the area where they are coming lose, it would really help with the correct solution.
Dave

DavidF · 03-29-2007, 03:40 PM

The only thing to note if you use wood glue is that you would need to clean off all the old glue first or the new stuff won't stick!

PeteM · 03-29-2007, 04:59 PM

This months Pop Woodworking has an article on "The right way to fix Your Chairs"

Pete

Travis Porter · 03-29-2007, 07:26 PM

One solution not mentioned (at least that I haven't seen so far, is to cut a slot in the tenon and put a wedge in it so when it gets into the joint, the wedge drives in, locking the joint.

I have tried the chair magic with no success. Yellow glue doesn't do good "regluing" unless you clean both parts real well and remove all the old glue. You can glue epoxy to epoxy, but I doubt the chairs were glued originally with epoxy.

walnutjerry · 03-29-2007, 08:45 PM

Originally Posted by Karbel

Hello,

I have a couple of wooden dining room chairs that keep coming apart. I can wedge the pieces back into the holes, but they don't stay for very long. A friend of mine said all I needed was some wood glue. Is this true and if so, do I need to put any weights on it or keep it upside down or anything like that while the glue is drying? Also, how long should I let it dry? Like 24 hours?..

Thanks so much!

How old are the chairs? Antiques? Most really old chairs were glued with hide glue. if there is not too much slop in the joint and it is hide glue, you can rejuvinate hide glue with denatured alcohol. You have to be cautious in doing that or you will remove the finish in that area. I have used an eye dropper or small syringe to apply the DNA around the tenon at the mortise line, let it soak in and add a little more until the old hide glue becomes somewhat dissolved-------at that point clamp the pieces together and let it dry.

Jerry

Karbel · 03-30-2007, 01:00 AM

Thanks *So*much to all of you who replied! You'll have to please excuse my wood-ignorance

, but I have a couple of questions. Are the tenons the rods that go from leg-to-leg? I don't have a wood-shop or anything like that so I am more looking for practical everyday kinds of answers

. I don't really know what would qualify them as "antiques", but they were handed down to me and I would guesstimate them to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 years old?... I am having some impromtu dinner guests on Saturday and was hoping for a quick fix for right now to hopefully avoid anyone falling out of the chair during dinner

, and then perhaps I can entertain the idea of a more permanant solution afterwards. Still I guess if anyone did fall out of their chair it would prove to be a memorable evening if nothing else. I wouldn't be able to post a picture until after the dinner probably, but I may do that anyway so that you all can see exactly what we are up against here.

Thanks again for everyone who took time to reply - I appreciate it very much!

McRabbet · 03-30-2007, 01:40 AM

The "tenon" is that end portion of a piece of wood that is inserted into a hole called a "mortise" in a second piece of wood, forming a solid joint if the tenon and mortise are shaped the same. See "Mortise and tenon" for more details. The "rods" that span the legs of chairs are called "stretchers" and the end that enters the leg at each end is a tenon; while the hole in the leg is the mortise.

The suggestion above by Travis Porter is probably the best solution if your stretchers are round ended and fit loosely into the holes in the legs. The "foxtail" wedged tenon in the Wikipedia diagrams illustrates the principle; with round stretchers, the slot is cut across the end of the stretcher and a small wooden wedge makes the tenon expand when inserted into the mortise of the leg. Of course, you'll clean off the old glue and add new glue when this is done. This same technique is used to hold the wooden handle of a claw hammer firmly in the hammer head.

Hope this helps.

Rob

DavidF · 03-30-2007, 09:43 AM

Originally Posted by Travis Porter

One solution not mentioned (at least that I haven't seen so far, is to cut a slot in the tenon and put a wedge in it so when it gets into the joint, the wedge drives in, locking the joint.

Beware, a "Foxed" mortise and Tenon as it is called in English woodworking is a tricky joint to get right. If the wedge is too long or the slot too short the joint will lock before the shoulders are tight and then you struggle to get the thing apart again!

DavidF · 03-30-2007, 09:53 AM

Originally Posted by McRabbet

This same technique is used to hold the wooden handle of a claw hammer firmly in the hammer head.

Hope this helps.

Rob

Except that the mortise is usually an open ended one and is therefore easy to control. A blind, Foxed M&T is slightly different beast. Not for the amateur I feel.

If it's for one evening, just tell everybody to sit still during dinner and retire to the lounge for postprandial drinks.

Howard Acheson · 03-30-2007, 12:00 PM

If these are not true "antique" chairs let me suggest the following. The shop I was involved with repairs lots of chairs. The problem with most is that the very heavy racking forces that chairs are subjected to will cause most adhesives to ultimately fail. The first to fail are those glued with hot hide glue. This is a very hard but brittle glue and easy cracks and fails. Newer PVA adhesives are better but require a proper fit and that the wood of the tenon and the hole be completely free of old glue. It must be virgin wood. To get to this point requires both taking some wood off the tenon and off the hole. This will cause a poor fit and the joint won't last.

So, what to do? Use a slow set, two part epoxy adhesive. It does not require a complete removal of old glue and actually provides its best strength when the joint is not tight. It is gap filling and, most importantly, it is somewhat flexible. Its flexibility allows the joint to "work" with racking forces but the strength of the joint is not impaired.

In our shop, all new chairs were glued with epoxy due to insurance requirements. Nothing will get a faster claim than someone hurt when a chair fails. We never had a failure with epoxy glue and most shops use it exclusively for chair repair and construction.

charlie s · 03-30-2007, 01:25 PM

From my experience repairing a set of antique chairs just recently, I agree with Howard. I originally repaired the chairs with yellow glue and the joints didn't last. I then mixed some epoxy and tinted it with Transtint to the color of the wood, then filled the gaps completely. I'm hoping that holds them together. If you do decide to use the Transtint, it only takes a small drop to tint the epoxy.

Charlie

oderus1671 · 03-30-2007, 08:35 PM

GLUE IT WITH EPOXY!!!!
GLUE IT WITH EPOXY!!!!
GLUE IT WITH EPOXY!!!!
GLUE IT WITH EPOXY!!!!

Um... Sorry about that. Cant seem to get the boat building techniques outta my head.

Residency requirements