On my computer I can't view your pictures - also I am not an expert.
My wife "saves" old chairs. She expects me to fix them to the point where she can clean them and remove various layers of finish. Here are my thoughts on basic repairs.
My first thought is to through the chair in the trash or burn it - but that decision is not made at my level if I plan on living a long life.
Often the chair is out of alignment and to fix that issue is a crap shoot, as often aligning the chair more cracks develop. Be careful - also, a little out of alignment might not be noticed by your wife and others.
For rails and stiles that have pulled loose, often the fix is to remove any dowels, sometimes drill them out and if the rail has a dowel end that is usually damaged, cut it off. Then make or buy new dowels from a hardwood like oak or maple - carefully drill new holes in the stiles and rail that snugly fit the dowl. Then clean out the hole and use Titebond III on either the style or the rail dowel. Let it dry for a few hours, before assembling the chair further. For cracks or splinters that are showing, I use a thin CA glue - just a few drops on the edge that will allow the thin CA to penetrate and then immediately push the crack or splint together using hand pressure and apply the CA accelerator. It takes just a few seconds to set.
Now to put the chair together. First using a Titebond III type product, you have eight minutes before the glue sets up. Other products set even faster. Not a good thing when you are putting a chair together. Also in order to have a great wood glue work, the surfaces must be cleaned of dirt, paint or varnish - wood glue works well with raw wood. I have tried and sometimes use a longer setting wood glue like Extended Titebond II but it is very runny and the runs must be removed - best to sand the runs after it sets for a day. The extended wood glue provides about 15 minutes assembly time. Often if you plan ahead, you can rig up a rope or banding that will work as a clamp. Let the chair sit undisturbed for 10 hours or so.
If the assembly can work in sections that is best but most often the parts must be assembled together in order to fit. Have a plan and the materials organized then work as fast as you can. Wood glue is best, however, I have used epoxy on a dowel that fits loosely. Wood glue does not fill gaps and actually, neither does CA glue but that view is in dispute. Epoxy does fill small gaps. I usually use Harbor Freight epoxy that comes in two small tubes for $1.99 on sale but it is usually on sale. There are other types at hardware stores that I have not used.
Again, to me fixing a major damaged old chair is not worth it.
If I had to remove the finish with strippers, sanding, TSP and then apply the paint or stain and poly - I would rebel and throw the chair in the trash or wood bin. My wife does that!
Just my take - fixed about 10 chairs while my wife finishes them - most come out looking great - often the combined time spent on just one chair is 20 hours or more.
Gene
---In DoIt_Yourself@yahoogroups.com, <westande@...> wrote :
My front porch rocker somehow got broken after the painters came :/. All the spokes and arm rest have been torn out and the rocker is certainly not safe to sit on. I am really not sure how to go about fixing this without taking the whole thing apart.
For the arm rest I figured I could put a small bracing piece of wood on the top and bottom.
The remaining spokes and seat I am at a loss as to how to fix them. It may not be very obvious from the picture but where the screws were attached the spokes have completely split the wood.
Is there any easy way to fix this?
Ande
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Posted by: genoman45@yahoo.com
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