Thread: Chair Repair

Hi Twisted

that's a very cheap chair -- it looks like an early Ikea assemble yourself model

is it part of a set?
is it the chair used most often by a heavy person, or someone who typically rocks back on a chair.

Personally, I don't think it is repairable.
A new leg would be a too obvious repair.
You could fit a new dowel where the rung enters the front leg and glue and clamp the break -- I don't think dowels would offer much reinforcing and the repair would be pretty obvious.
Also, I would expect that the surviving leg is weakened as are the legs on other chairs in the set that are regularly used.
Bottom line you could repair the damage but the chair would be either unusable or very obviously repaired.

Perhaps the best way of retaining the sentimental value is to re-purpose the wood in the chair into a keep sake box or picture frames -- the nephew has kids? "Grandma's chair" could frame their photos.

I know ... a difficult choice for the niece in-law

Thanks for that Ian. It is part of a set and the hubby is not too heavy but some one must have rocked back on it. That's a good idea repurposing the wood. I'll float that with them.

TT

The grain runout at the break is the quite bad and likley caused it to fail. I would never be confident that it would hold up if repaired.
Regards
John

A new dowel for the rail and epoxy/titebond for the rest should take it back to serviceable - there's plenty of surface area for gluing, but if it failed in normal use, you'll need to work out some sort of reinforcement for it.

Glue it first and then either spline or dowel the joint from where it is least likely to be seen.

I agree with Ian.
That is a really badly made chair.
Whoever made it had no idea about grain direction and the benefits of getting it right.
It's a bit sad people get sentimentally attached to such lemons.

Yep there"s no way I could even match the wood. I was thinking of replacing a length of the leg around the break, and dowel it in top & bottom. The wood would be different of course and would be stronger than the rest of the chair, therefore transferring the stress elsewhere I think. I think it may be my brother who has the emotional attachment. It's a long story about his daughter inlaw, I think he wants her to feel like she is worth the effort.

TT

I make chairs and much prefer to make a new one rather than stuff about with a broken one, but I do understand that sentiment often plays a part.
Yes, the break does appear to be caused by grain run out, a very common flaw in mass produced furniture as the components are created sight unseen. The first time a real live person got a look in was at assembly and its getting a bit late by then.
As the break surface is considerable, a quality glue up would be an option, a new dowel of strong timber using a quality glue and the chair would be no worse than any of the others in the set. If the truth be known, there are probably others just waiting to pull the same stunt.
My suggestion would be epoxy glue and an oak dowel.

Originally Posted by rustynail

My suggestion would be epoxy glue and an oak dowel.

So what brand of glue would you use? I'm showing my ignorance here I'm thinking Araldite?

TT

Araldite is your expensive option unless you buy one of the tiny consumer packs that might just have enough for one job. If you have a marine store nearby, some West Epoxy, Techniglue or some Botecote.

Any of those would be fine

Although, since it would be a really good fit, you might end up starving the joint of epoxy....maybe Titebond II as an option?

Sorry to say, but, I wouldn't touch it. Throw it in the bin.

Too many potential hassles.

Cheers

Originally Posted by Twisted Tenon

I think it may be my brother who has the emotional attachment. It's a long story about his daughter inlaw, I think he wants her to feel like she is worth the effort.

in that case, repurposing the wood -- from what in reality are very cheaply made chairs* -- into a real keepsake like a box or picture frame will represent a lot more "feeling"


* I don't recall when I last saw a chair assembled using knock down fittings