Hi,

My sister in Montreal is considering buying wood dining room chairs
(antique I think), and she asked me how difficult it is to repair the
"wobbly" chairs
I decided to ask here.

Having done a lot of woodworking, my opinion is that the job is not as
simple as it may appear; it requires skill, knowledge and time. I.e,
carefully remove all necessary parts, carefully remove old glue etc. from
all surfaces with fine (400 grit?) sandpaper, etc.

Suggestions would be appreciated!

Thanks.

Dugie

The major part of the problem is that when the joints have loosened
up, they may have rubbed together enough so that some wood has been
removed.

That being said, I have found that I can usually open the joints up
enough without taking the chair apart so as to be able to simply
scrape any old glue off, and use a little "Gorilla Glue" to hold
things together again. Clamp/strap things together while the glue sets
up. Read the instructions on the bottle... spritz a little water on
the pieces to activate the glue.

I've also found that a small finish nail (drill a pilot hole first)
crosswise through the joint helps a lot. In really desperate cases,
I've even used small wood screws to help secure things in addition to
the glue.

If the chair will come apart with a little coaxing from a rubber
mallet, all the better. PITA job.

Dugie wrote:
Hi,

My sister in Montreal is considering buying wood dining room chairs
(antique I think), and she asked me how difficult it is to repair the
"wobbly" chairs
I decided to ask here.

Having done a lot of woodworking, my opinion is that the job is not as
simple as it may appear; it requires skill, knowledge and time. I.e,
carefully remove all necessary parts, carefully remove old glue etc.
from all surfaces with fine (400 grit?) sandpaper, etc.

Suggestions would be appreciated!

Thanks.

Dugie

There are two ways. One is to do as you are suggesting, but be very
careful as you don't want to remove any of the wood that is likely already
worn as the professor indicated. Some times the use of some flat tooth
picks can be helpful.

There is another possibility. That is the material made just for the
job. I believe it is sold under the name Chair Lock and maybe some other
names. The few times I have used it, it has worked. Worked for over 30
years so far on some kitchen chairs that were a wedding present to my mother
and father and are now being used by my daughter and her family.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia 's Muire duit

"Dugie" wrote in message
...
Hi,

My sister in Montreal is considering buying wood dining room chairs
(antique I think), and she asked me how difficult it is to repair the
"wobbly" chairs
I decided to ask here.

Having done a lot of woodworking, my opinion is that the job is not as
simple as it may appear; it requires skill, knowledge and time. I.e,
carefully remove all necessary parts, carefully remove old glue etc. from
all surfaces with fine (400 grit?) sandpaper, etc.

Suggestions would be appreciated!

Thanks.

Dugie

I have a chair that I reglued. It was a captains chair and all I did was to
knock apart the joints that were loose slather in some of the carpenter's
wood glue (the light brown stuff) and reassemble. This was several months
ago and it is still holding strong.\

This might not be the best option on some pricey antique however, but for my
thrift shop chair it seemed to work out just fine.

--

Roger Shoaf

About the time I had mastered getting the toothpaste back in the tube, then
they come up with this striped stuff.

My sister asked me to thank you all for your help.

"That is nice that these folks share their knowledge for free! Would you
please thank them for me?"

Dugie

The Lurkers Creed
'Tis better to remain silent and be thought a fool...
Than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt.

"Roger Shoaf" wrote in message
...

"Dugie" wrote in message
...
Hi,

My sister in Montreal is considering buying wood dining room chairs
(antique I think), and she asked me how difficult it is to repair the
"wobbly" chairs
I decided to ask here.

Having done a lot of woodworking, my opinion is that the job is not as
simple as it may appear; it requires skill, knowledge and time. I.e,
carefully remove all necessary parts, carefully remove old glue etc.
from
all surfaces with fine (400 grit?) sandpaper, etc.

Suggestions would be appreciated!

Thanks.

Dugie

I have a chair that I reglued. It was a captains chair and all I did was
to
knock apart the joints that were loose slather in some of the carpenter's
wood glue (the light brown stuff) and reassemble. This was several
months
ago and it is still holding strong.\

This might not be the best option on some pricey antique however, but for
my
thrift shop chair it seemed to work out just fine.

--

Roger Shoaf

About the time I had mastered getting the toothpaste back in the tube,
then
they come up with this striped stuff.

Visit www.leevalley.com and look for "Chair Doctor" (I think is the
name of glue designed for this purpose.

On Sun, 25 Mar 2007 19:38:22 GMT, "Dugie"
wrote:

Hi,

My sister in Montreal is considering buying wood dining room chairs
(antique I think), and she asked me how difficult it is to repair the
"wobbly" chairs
I decided to ask here.

Having done a lot of woodworking, my opinion is that the job is not as
simple as it may appear; it requires skill, knowledge and time. I.e,
carefully remove all necessary parts, carefully remove old glue etc. from
all surfaces with fine (400 grit?) sandpaper, etc.

Suggestions would be appreciated!

Thanks.

Dugie

On Mar 25, 3:38 pm, "Dugie" wrote:
Hi,

My sister in Montreal is considering buying wood dining room chairs
(antique I think), and she asked me how difficult it is to repair the
"wobbly" chairs
I decided to ask here.

Having done a lot of woodworking, my opinion is that the job is not as
simple as it may appear; it requires skill, knowledge and time. I.e,
carefully remove all necessary parts, carefully remove old glue etc. from
all surfaces with fine (400 grit?) sandpaper, etc.

Suggestions would be appreciated!

Thanks.

Dugie

I add one additional piece of information since no one has posted it
already. If you decide you need to disassemble the stretchers many
brands of bar clamps will allow you to reverse the movable jaw and the
clamp becomes a spreader. Don't know if you need to go that far. Its
like surgery, the least invasive the better.
JoeG

My parents have, or had, wooden chairs. That was a continuing
struggle for my Dad, to keep the chairs glued.

The chairs I now h ave, when they come loose I drill a 1/8 hole
from the inside of the hole out through the horizontal rod. Push
em back together, and drill a slightly smaller hole into the end
of the rod. Small dab of vaseline on the end of the rod, into the
hole to lube the threads.

Zip in a black head drywall screw. 1 5/8 inch long works nicely.
Hardly visible, unless you really know what you're looking for.
And folks who do chairs will understand.

--

Christopher A. Young
You can't shout down a troll.
You have to starve them.
..

"Dugie" wrote in message
...
: Hi,
:
: My sister in Montreal is considering buying wood dining room
chairs
: (antique I think), and she asked me how difficult it is to
repair the
: "wobbly" chairs
: I decided to ask here.
:
: Having done a lot of woodworking, my opinion is that the job is
not as
: simple as it may appear; it requires skill, knowledge and time.
I.e,
: carefully remove all necessary parts, carefully remove old glue
etc. from
: all surfaces with fine (400 grit?) sandpaper, etc.
:
: Suggestions would be appreciated!
:
: Thanks.
:
: Dugie
: