Ercol chair repair

[Glitch]

My wife has a thing about occasional chairs. She bought a pair of 1980's Ercol chairs. One has some dreadful repairs. The owner refused to split the pair and it was a good price (according to the wife).

What can be done with this?
Spindle has split and got a bolt through it.
Another bolt holding the arm to the back.

 

[Sebb]

Maybe get some dowels in there to hold it together?

 

[Amplidyne]

Grief! What have they been doing with it!
Take the "repairs" (I use the term loosely, which is what the repairs will soon become anyway) apart carefully. Clean any glue they're bodged in there off, and get the parts to match back together again as far as possible. Make new parts, or parts of parts where necessary. Fill the drilled holes with solid wood plugged at the ends. I think Ercol uses beech IIRC. Then glue it all back. No screws. Coloured wax there needed, and a mix of painted finish, possibly a bit of wood dye to match and so on. As already said, dowels can be useful to hold it together. Patience is the main thing. I restored a friend's antique mahogany chair like this. They had already paid a "restorer" to do it. Screws and filler again. The chair had collapsed after a little light use.