I have a coffee table from roughly the mid 60's that has a loose leg that I would like to repair. It is a simple motar and tenon joint but would appreciate peoples thoughts on how I should re-glue the joint?
I'm thinking that i should be removing as much of the old glue as possible before I try to re-glue it back together, but I'm worried that if I do I will make the joint too loose? At the moment it is still tight, it's just that the current glue has let go.
Also, is PVA a suitable glue for this application?

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Glue generally won't stick to glue (unless it's new hide glue to old hide glue) so removing as much of the old glue as possible is good.

Epoxy is the best 'oops, the fit is a bit loose now' fix (bulk the epoxy up with a little sawdust or other filler) if it gets too sloppy and you don't have the tools/time/skills to add a shim to tighten the fit.

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Definitely clean all of the old glue out.
I agree, epoxy would be best. If you are neat enough and only use a small amount, a good polyurethane will expand into any gap that is left as well.

G'Day "halminator";
I had a similar issue with dining chairs and forum members recommended "hide glue" from the forum sponsor "U-Beaut".
HIDE GLUE - Joiners Pearl Glue
I purchased the hide glue and a secondhand "hot wax" unit, followed the steps on the data sheet which came with the pearl hide glue.
The chairs are as good as new.
It worked for me.
Cheers, Crowie

Thanks guys. I've never used HG before but from the info I've gleaned from the forum looks like it will be the ducks.
Is it very temp sensitive when preparing? The u beaut stuff says it needs to get to 80 degrees, but as I'll be just using a pot of boiling water and a container I'm not sure how accurate I'll be able to get the temp?

I got a cheap thermometer from the local "discount shop"
and only managed a consistant 70deg"c" which worked.
his was confirmed by a couple of other blokes as okay,
and thus far 6-12mths the chairs a solid.
Cheers, Crowie

Hide glue is not really gap filling, so if the fit is sloppy after removing the old glue (which is highly unlikely to be hide glue, as that stopped being used commercially back in the 40's or 50's), you'll need to shim to a good fit. And although polyurethane expands to fill gaps, the expanded poly foam has little strength compared to something solid.

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Can someone please tell me how to PERMANENTLY turn off that annoying "Automatically retrieve titles from external links" setting! If I don't think the URL by itself is sufficient, I'm perfectly capable of creating a properly formatted hyperlink all by myself.

Halminator,

If it was originally glued up with HG then use HG to do the re-glue. As stated before new HG will bond with old HG. You won't have to clean out much of the old HG. I don't think a table of the 60's vintage would have been glued up with HG. It is probably more than likely it is a PVA glue.

If you can't determine what it was glued up with then remove as much of the old glue as possible and glue it back together with epoxy. This will gap fill and give good strength. Don't use the 5 minute stuff but get the 24 hour stuff and let the joint cure for about 2 days.

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Steve

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