Repair chair leg
- Thread starter Kidneycutter
- Start date
Help Support UKworkshop.co.uk:
Jacob
What goes around comes around.
I'd glue it as it is and screw on mending plates front and back. It was rubbish to start with and you can't make a silk purse...etc. Not helped by being the most stressed part of the chair.
Or make a whole new leg.
https://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-Zinc-Plated-Mending-Plate-125mm-Pack-4/p/164444?fix
Agree a good quality hardwood glue and a couple of mechanical fixings screws or suitable bolts - ensure you pre drill with suitable pilot holes for screws and countersink and correct size holes if using bolts ( the type used in flat pack furniture with flat heads with a hex in the centre for tightening up . If either piece splits it’s probably game over..
Phill05
Established Member
Or you could do it the old fashioned way and repair it, but you need to put some time and effort into it.
This is how I used to repair chair legs, very simple mark out and cut the shape, I never had one fail as far as I know.
This is how I used to repair chair legs, very simple mark out and cut the shape, I never had one fail as far as I know.
toolsntat
Yep, I collect tools and tat
Considering that the primary reason this repair has failed is a 80% poor glue joint I'd simply clean off the two flat surfaces and re-glue it.
If this is for someone else DON'T be screwing chunks of metal to the surface and expect to be paid because in anyone's book that's a first class bodge.
Cheers Andy
If this is for someone else DON'T be screwing chunks of metal to the surface and expect to be paid because in anyone's book that's a first class bodge.
Cheers Andy
Bit strong calling someone else’s advice a bodge - it’s not a bodge if it’s your chair it’s a sympathetic repair like most repairs of this nature it depends on how much material you have to work with and glue alone may not be enough. It would be just as easy to counter bore and plug the hole to hide the mechanical fixings. I like the repair that @Phill05 posted but that is likely to be a costly repair if it is for a customer.
niall Y
Established Member
You need a dowel to reinforce this joint otherwise it will fail again. But, it will be difficult to to line it up properly
.I believe that one of the recommended methods was to glue the sloping snapped piece together then cut it square beneath the join. It is then a lot easier to drill into the sloping break for a long dowel. The cut off piece is then drilled out to take the rest of the dowel, which is then glued in position. The downside to this method is that you now have two joins where you would have had only one.
A better method would be to glue the break together and then rout a deep slot along the leg, across the break, from where the leg faces inside the chair, and won't be noticed. A floating tenon/spline, using a strong wood like Beech can then be glued in place, A thin piece of Mahogany is then glued over the top of this to disguise the joint.
.I believe that one of the recommended methods was to glue the sloping snapped piece together then cut it square beneath the join. It is then a lot easier to drill into the sloping break for a long dowel. The cut off piece is then drilled out to take the rest of the dowel, which is then glued in position. The downside to this method is that you now have two joins where you would have had only one.
A better method would be to glue the break together and then rout a deep slot along the leg, across the break, from where the leg faces inside the chair, and won't be noticed. A floating tenon/spline, using a strong wood like Beech can then be glued in place, A thin piece of Mahogany is then glued over the top of this to disguise the joint.
Jacob
What goes around comes around.
A good idea but near impossible to do in practice, and would also shorten the leg.
Are you saying that I should be using a different glue depending on whether it is hardwood or softwood?
The grain in the dark brown piece would be better rotated 90 degrees in your rendering.
I think the joint line on his CAD drawing is illustrative not literal. You would align the two fracture surfaces, clamp them well and use a router to form the hole for the jigsaw piece. The material you remove, you put back with the 'spline'.
----
With the dowel idea, as stated, alignment to drill the hole would be challenging. So use a method that does not rely on precise alignment.
Drill an oversize hole in roughly the right place in both pieces and use epoxy resin in both halves to align the dowel. Glue it into one half and let it set. Sellotape the projecting part and the two surfaces of the break. Squirt some epoxy into the second hole, insert the leg + dowel, align it very well and let it set. Once epoxy has set, separate the join, remove all sellotape and use woodglue for the final glue up.
Orraloon
Established Member
Clean off the glue then stick it back on. It will also need a couple of splines to reinforce the joint. Something a bit like this.
Fixing a broken chair leg - YouTube
As has been said I would only do it if it's my own chair. Too many potential problems fixing other peoples chairs.
Regards
John
Fixing a broken chair leg - YouTube
As has been said I would only do it if it's my own chair. Too many potential problems fixing other peoples chairs.
Regards
John
Phil Pascoe
Established Member
I wonder if the OP found chewing gum under the seat? I've repaired scores of chairs and have yet to come across a chewing gum free one.
Yojevol
Clocking on
I would use 2 6mm s/s threaded rod dowels and epoxy resin. Drill 2 holes in the top section and set in the dowels. When the resin is set drill 2 clearance in the lower section and trial fit. Hold the lower part upright and half fill the holes with resin. Also coat joint surfaces with resin. Gently bring the chair down onto the lower leg and allow to set. Clean up the surplus resin that will have oozed out and leave to fully cure.
Brian
Brian
peter-harrison
Established Member
I agree with Yojevol- I've done loads like that and never had one fail. PLEASE don't screw some plates on it!
The leg broke the first time when there were no issues with glue etc, proving that the original design or timber was wanting. Therefore you want to go better than the original.
The leg broke the first time when there were no issues with glue etc, proving that the original design or timber was wanting. Therefore you want to go better than the original.
Jameshow
Established Member
Use builder band much better!
Stevekane
Established Member
I was very taken with Phills little inserts above, but to get them to be really strong needs the shape of the joint as well I think? My initial thought was a large dowel but of course lining it up is really difficult and I wondered if he could clean up the joint and use good glue, then once thats set how about routing a couple of slots across the joint on the inside of the leg and glue in a couple of tongues. Would this work? Im happy to be told not!
Steve.
Steve.
John Brown
Freeloading Social media influenza
Sounds good to me, but do you have any tips for getting the holes drilled in the right orientation, when the break is on the diagonal?
cowtown_eric
Established Member
hole centers easily located by careful measurement for edges,
Use bevel gauge to give indication of hole direction
Drill slightly oversized holes to alllow threaded rod insertion to allow assembly and check to see that it will align
Stone countertop fabricators have a really strong elastic tape suitable for applying linear grip on such an oblique angle
Check ability to clamp it properly so that everything aligns
wipe edges of both parts with wax to prevent glue adhesion
Mix up epoxy (? maybe tint it a tad)fill holes and put in piece of threaded rod so that you've got glue squeeze out
Clamp, and watch that things don't creepout of alignment before the epoxy hardens
The angle of that break shows to me poor selection of material (for grain), so maybe yer threaded rod can be drilled deep enuf to get to better grain
In my pea-brain, if you don't get mechanical support, breakage may happen again
Eric
Use bevel gauge to give indication of hole direction
Drill slightly oversized holes to alllow threaded rod insertion to allow assembly and check to see that it will align
Stone countertop fabricators have a really strong elastic tape suitable for applying linear grip on such an oblique angle
Check ability to clamp it properly so that everything aligns
wipe edges of both parts with wax to prevent glue adhesion
Mix up epoxy (? maybe tint it a tad)fill holes and put in piece of threaded rod so that you've got glue squeeze out
Clamp, and watch that things don't creepout of alignment before the epoxy hardens
The angle of that break shows to me poor selection of material (for grain), so maybe yer threaded rod can be drilled deep enuf to get to better grain
In my pea-brain, if you don't get mechanical support, breakage may happen again
Eric
Yojevol
Clocking on
Cut a notch with a chisel or start the drill perpendicular to slope and then adjust the angle as it bites into the wood.
Brian
