Free Furniture Repair and Restoration Tips

Regluing Chairs

When you have a chair that is loose and wobbly, it's probably time to have it reglued.  This can be a good or bad process for you depending on the steps you take.  Simply stuffing some gorilla or other wood type glue into the broken joints will not work.  All loose joints need to be broken free and cleaned of old glue.  I like to use a towell and a rubber mallet.  I start by labeling all joints of the chair with letters and numbers(I just write the label on some laquor tape and stick it on the chair parts)  This process will save you time when you go to reglue the chair and forget what goes where(Trust me this will happen)  Start by putting the towell as close to the broken joint on the wood as possible.  Give the towell a good smack and normally loose joints will break free.  If you have difficulty getting a joint loose, sometimes it doesnt need it.  If the joint feels good and strong, don't risk breaking the chair into pieces by smacking at an already tight joint. Once you have the chair joints apart you will need to clean them. I use a chisel and sometimes a dremmel tool with a sanding drum.( be careful of oversanding. too much sanding will cause the joints to be too loose for glue)  The key is to clean all glue joints as good as possible without causing any damage to the chair.  Once the joints are cleaned, you are ready to reglue the chair. Tightbond wood glue will work best on most chairs.  Put some in a small cup and grab a cheap brush.  I always to a "dry run" before I glue the joints!  If you find a joint won't draw in correctly but there's already glue all over it, you'll have a mess and be pretty frustrated.  When the chair is back together, you will need to clamp it at every joint.  I like Irwin hand clamps.  They are easy to use and have rubber ends so they won't damage your chair.  After all joints are clamped set the chair on an even floor such as a concrete garage floor and make sure its level.  You don't want to be proud of your hard work and realize you glued a chair up uneven.  Give the chair overnight to dry and remove clamps. Its definately a process but its the right way to do the job.

Good Luck.  If this sounds like too much work,  call FurnitureWorks, LLC and we'll be happy to come to the rescue.