chair repair post #3

[Keye]

With great advise from posts 1&2 I have taken the first chair apart. The original glue is hide glue. The tip to use steam worked great. I used a hand held steamer used to remove wrinkles. Wife bought it years ago and never used it. It now belongs to me.

My question this time is about the mortises. The ends are rounded. For some reason this surprises me. The sides are also sloped to accommodate the curved back. Should this type of mortise tell me anything about the chair, as in age?

 

[Bill E]

Great job on releasing the tendon and cleaning the area. My opinion,the mortise was cut by over head rouiter in a small factory due the rounded ends (if the mortis was square on each end ,it was hand cut ).also the traces of green is color added to glue to show where glue was.next step, is clean the tendon .If it doesn’t fit tight into mortise , glue thin strips to both sides of tenion and make sure it fit tight.If it was dowels, you would glue another tight fitting dowel,cut dowel flush to the tenion redrill to the
diameter of preexisting dowel.When you reglue,use brown Hyde glue or Tite bond with Clamps,clean up with warm water.When you glue the entire chair ,strap clamps work well ( test fit first )Watch Thomas Johnson Antique furniture repair on You Tube. he has many shows on restoring antique chairs and is a master! Bill E
Bill E