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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2018
    Location
    Sunshine coast, Australia
    Posts
    4

    Default Needed to redo some chair joints, should I redo them all?

    So I'm doing up my first chair, and of course with my inexperience the joints didn't set quite square.

    I've thus put the joints in hot water and undone the joints that weren't proper square. I'm using plain white interior PVA glue. My question is if I should also undo the other joints that were square, since they also got wet / hot due to me putting most of the chair in hot water in a tub?

    The glue in the other joints also seemed to have softened, but after clamping they seem to be solid. Will they not last as long if the glue has been softened / heated once? Just not an expert.

    Pics: one of the joints that I didn't undo, after clamping. The joint that was undone, and a picture of what the chair looked like originally.

    IMG_20190523_233053.jpgIMG_20190523_233006.jpgIMG_20190523_232955.jpg

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  3. #2
    Join Date
    May 2003
    Location
    Central Coast, NSW
    Posts
    3,330

    Default

    If it was me, I would separate all the joints and reglue.

    I have redone a few chairs and I find they go together better if fully separated. Any time you can fully separate without damage it’s a bonus.

    Are you gluing the chair up using band clamps. I find the best way to get the chairs straight and square is to do all joints at once with 2 or more band clamps. Use a glue with a long open time - the white pva should be good.
    Apologies for unnoticed autocomplete errors.

  4. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Location
    Perth WA Australia
    Posts
    828

    Default

    Same, if it were me i'd do all the work now rather than risk having to redo it later down the track. This is especially true if you plan on re-finishing the chairs.

    Also the last thing you'll want is to go through all the effort for the chair to fail because of one of the other joints. As modern wood glues are stronger than the wood itself, so if another joint fails chances are it'll break the surrounding wood.

  5. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2018
    Location
    Sunshine coast, Australia
    Posts
    4

    Default

    Ok, I undid the remaining joints. However, it looks like the chair is simply not square at all, since when I put it together without glue, it look like the picture below. Also, if I force it square, there's a little crack showing up.

    These chairs were a roadside collection and don't hold any emotional value, I was mostly using them as a practice before I put together something of my own. So I'm not sure if it's worth trying to square it up. The other similar two chairs I've got seems to be made of pine or some other soft and light wood.

    IMG_20190602_160956.jpgIMG_20190602_160937.jpg

  6. #5
    Join Date
    May 2003
    Location
    Central Coast, NSW
    Posts
    3,330

    Default

    The chairs look factory-made so it’s likely they were originally square but have changed through wood movement or drying over time.

    Your options are to remake the front piece, plug the mortise with a timber plug and recut it, or find another chair to practise on.

    Chairs
    Arron
    Apologies for unnoticed autocomplete errors.

  7. #6
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Location
    bilpin
    Posts
    3,551

    Default

    When assembling a chair, the front legs and front apron along with a front spindle if used are glued and clamped up as a unit and squared. The back legs, back apron, back rails and possible spindle are also assembled as a unit and squared. Once these two separate glued up units have dried, the rear leg unit is laid on its back and the side apron rails are glued into the rear leg assembly, followed by the front leg unit being dropped onto the tenons of the now vertical side apron rails. Clamps applied where required. The chair can now be stood up. This is the critical time when the chair can go out of square and often does. In the case of a drop in seat frame square is critical but for an upholstered seat or overlay seat perfect square is not so critical. You may well find the original configuration was out of wack.

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