Chair Restoration

engrish?

Hi, I got my hands on this old chair and I would like to restore it.



It has some woodworm which I am treating at the moment but the biggest issue I think I will have is this crack in the upper part of it. My fear is that when someone leans back on it they will break the upper part. Would anyone know what is the best way to fix this permanently?

peter bermingham

Ok first off treat the wood worm clean down with methylated spirits and 0000 steel wool then you have to neutralist the meth with white spirits just some on a cotton cloth will do and wipe clean. Now the crack you need to gently open it up and get some glue in, but you want to figure out how your going to clamp it first. I would cut a peace of timber the same profile as the chair and with two sash clamps, clamp from bottom off leg to top off the peace you cut putting even pressure on both sides now not to much just enough to close the joint and clean off all excess glue leave over night. Then remove clamps lightly clean around the joint with steel wool oooo again. You can get wax in sticks that will be very close to the color of the chair rub it into the joint and polish off with cotton cloth. Then get some briwax most places stock it you can apply the briwax with brush or cloth now not to much or you will be forever polishing it of do sections at a time. Then your finished
Also that birwax comes in loads of different colors clear or Jacobean might be the best all else fails you could do a restoration course with this fella http://georgian-antiques.com/ I have done a few course with him he has stuff that he makes himself for cleaning and its only mighty you don't need to do the meth white spirits steps just clean and wipe off. Hope that's helped you any more questions just ask
Peter

kadman

Maybe a better pick of the crack, front and back and edge, in order to see the grain direction of the leg. And it cant be clearly seen from the picture you posted.

If the crack is running parrallel with the grain, then glue may solve the problem. If the crack is at 90 degrees to the grain, then glue may not be the answer, and its a trickier repair.

So pics will help:)

engrish?

Thank you both so much. I've put some images together on imgur so you can see higher res.

http://imgur.com/a/TaEwa

Does that work ok?

kadman

A pic of the narrow edge of the chair leg at the crack would be a help too.

But judging on the pics so far, it looks like the leg at the joint of the lower back rail has failed due to short grain in the chair leg. This could be seen from a pic of the narrow edge if you have one.

If this is the case, and you would like it to be a serviceable chair, then a dismantle ofd the chair is required. The lower cross rail in the back of the chair is either dowelled or tennoned . If its tennoned then a longer loose tennon could be placed in the cross rail, and fixed into a slightly longer mortice, at an angle so as not to be visible. And this would add support to the break in the leg.

It requres some level of skill to make a perfect result, as it is a tricky repair.

kadman

This chap sings the same tune

http://www.custommade.com/chair-restoration/by/jetwoodshop/