Thoughts on this furniture repair

[aesmith]

Hi,

This an oak stool, given to us a long time ago, broken by removals company and not properly fixed. At the time we accepted a repair and some cash, with hindsight should have insisted on replacement or proper repair. But we are where we are. The "repair" arranged by Pickfords didn't last, we lost the pieces but have now found them and it's sitting in the workshop before I even consider doing anything that might be irreversible.

So I'd appreciate any comments or advice. The broken bits fit together reasonable tightly but don't close up. That might be because the top was formed by bending rather than hollowed out from solid, so there's some stress in the top but not the fragment. Or because there's some glue or gunge from the "repair" present on the broken surfaces. I'm not expecting an invisible repair.

Thanks, Tony S

Break from above and below ..

The bits ...

Bits dry fitted, viewed from various angles. The gaps close up a bit under finger pressure, but not completely. That crusty light coloured stuff on the underneath is from the "repair", ideally I'd remove it.

 

[mrpercysnodgrass]

Hi Tony.
You have a very nice Robert Thompson (Mouseman) stool. The top is not bent but hewn out by hand with an adze. In perfect condition it would fetch around £500 in auction and probably over a thousand with a dealer so well worth doing a proper repair.
It looks as though the Pickfords repair was glued with cascamite, there is still some residue in the break which is what is preventing a good join. All of the old glue will need picking/scraping out carefully so as not to damage the edges. There is enough glueing surface for the repair to be done with scotch or fish glue. It will need clamping with care so as to get a good join.

 

[mrpercysnodgrass]

https://www.thomaswatson.com/lot/a-...good-golden-colour-and-carved-mouse-signature

 

[Chubber]

Very envious, repaired or not...

 

[johnnyb]

I don't reckon that's repairable long term beyond cosmetically. The design is short grainy imho. Whilst a beautiful and understated piece I think it's a bit badly designed.
I would approach the company to see if a replacement Could be made.

 

[ian8555]

Yeah, I thought the same when I saw the pictures, not considering it's a mouseman piece, it needs a new top, can be repaired again but new top is better.

 

[AJB Temple]

The damage is in a vulnerable place. I would be looking to fit some hidden dowel pins into the pieces to reinforce it. The other option is to cut a slice of the top off along the long edge, and replace it totally, carved to match, This could create a near invisible repair if you you can find some oak with similar grain.

 

[aesmith]

Hi Tony.
You have a very nice Robert Thompson (Mouseman) stool.

New in 1982 so not from the man himself, but from his workshop.

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions. I agree that the proper repair would be replacement top, maybe flat like their nearest current equivalent. On the other hand that also means there's little lost through an attempted repair.

You're correct that there's something in the grain of the break. I had it assembled and held with plastic spring clamps, and it was a bit stuck together when I separated for the photos. I guess the best way would be scraping along the grain, maybe with a pointed plastic or wood object.

 

[Tris]

A set of wax modelling tools like this is handy
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/36288816...XwgzqajSc-&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

 

[XTiffy]

As a furniture restorer since 1977 I would say a straightforward repair. guing up is the problem. Yes careful cleaning and then making shaped blocks to go between clamp and top in the three planes from the two sides and also the top to ensure alignment. When clamped up dry, I would "drill" using a panel pin with the head cut off, at two points one at each end of the break. A fresh panel pin is then used for glue up and then removed after gluing, leaving a very small hole to fill.. This technique is to prevent the joint from sliding from the glue. Hot hide glue would be best but is much more difficult without practice as it gells very quickly. A "brown" glue like the gorrilla glue would be easier and will be strong. It would be better to dowel across the joint but very difficult for that kind of a break, unless you substituted small dowels (make your own from same wood as top) for the panel pins.

 

[spanner48]

I have done repairs similar to this before. Though not on Mouseman !

1: The old glue needs to be carefully and COMPLETELY removed. Tedious, but absolutely necesary. Try various solvents: hot water, isopropanol, acetone, xylene, white spirit, meths, hydrogen peroxide carefully, in hidden spots, to see if any dissolve the glue. Otherwise, it's mechanical.

2: The pieces have been broken off DOWNWARDS. So they need to be re-attached with pressure UPWARDS, as well as inwards. Drive a fine pin into the seat top 6" diagonally inward towards the centre [project the line from the rounded corner of the broken-off piece through the corner of the break]. Use this as the anchor point.

3: Procure Post Office 5" rubber bands. They're very high quality, and your 'postie' will normally give them to you for free, if you ask.

4: Dry set up the repair, using the rubber bands stretched under the broken-off corner pieces, across the top and round the top pin, to form a "Cat's cradle" . Make sure the lash-up is stable, and that the joint line 'disappears'. You may have to push the pieces in and up, to reverse any distortion caused during the initial break.

5: XTiffy's hack to use panel pins will be very useful. The alternative is to 'fox-pin' the joints: drill - from underneath, where it is less visible – 2mm holes right through the broken joint faces, but not reaching the top surface. Use cheap Chinese 2mm twist drill bits, at 10 for £3. Then cut each drill bit off slightly shorter than the depth of its hole.

6: Glue up. I would use a strong, slow-setting epoxy, such as Araldite Standard. Warm the broken-off pieces to around 90º in the oven, so the glue will become less viscous, and 'run' better, leaving a finer glue-line.

7: Smear the cut-off drill bits with glue; drive them into their holes to below the surface.

8: Build the "cat's cradle" of rubber bands round the pieces and the top pin, holding the pieces inwards and upwards. Check that the glue-line has [as far as possible] disappeared, and that it is stable.

9: Leave 8 hours

10. Remove the rubber bands, and the top pin.

11: Clean up. Fill in the "sacrificial drill bit" holes in the underside with a mastic of glue and sawdust.

 

[aesmith]

Thanks again. I will look at clamping techniques, I like the idea of shaped blocks for the up and down clamping. Not sure I be up to drilling for dowels or pins within the thickness. Done wrong it would positively stop the joint closing.

I think first step is going to be clean up, then take it from there.

 

[Fergie 307]

With Spanner 48.
This is a very common sort of damage on clocks. Last thing you want is to be scraping the glue off, as that will seriously detract from your chances of getting a really neat join. Try and dissolve it, acetone is usually good but you may need to experiment. The big blotches on the underside will be good for trying different solvents to see what works before you start on the real thing. Remove the residue with an old toothbrush.
The cats cradle idea is good. Unfortunately Murphy's law always dictates that these things will happen to only the most irregularly shaped, awkward to clamp parts, so you often have to be inventive in coming up with a way of clamping it.
Some reinforcement by dowels or rods is a good idea. Can't really help you there as not something I have any experience of, never had to take account of people sitting on a clock
You can use wood flour mixed with clear araldite to fill any small missing splinters. The wood flour best made by sanding the actual object, so the colour is correct. Alternatively hard wax if you have it. This can be blended to get the correct colour, and you can also drag one colour through another to imitate effects in the wood. The latter obviously applies more to areas of serious surface damage rather than what you have here.
If you make a good job of it the repair will be very hard to spot, if you want to make it invisible then you can touch in any visible signs with coloured shellac, or even paint. The latter can be very useful in imitating for example the small darker flecks in oak. Takes practice but can be done. Usually just a case of blending carefully to either side of any join line you may be left with. The fact that it is quite grained is actually really helpful, the light colour rather less so!
Biggest problem I see is the fact that the broken off parts are darker, presumably because they have been stored whilst the rest of it has been exposed to light. That may well resolve itself during cleaning. If not simply a case of using a tinted shellac on completion to match it all up. If you don't want to risk it yourself any decent French polisher will be able to make your hopefully neat join disappear.

 

[aesmith]

Would the original finish be shellac?

 

[Fergie 307]

No idea, shellac is good for repairs because it can be easily tinted. It can also be easily removed if it all goes wrong. Good to start with a couple of coats of clear. Then if your tinting goes wrong you can just take it all off and start again without having stained the wood irrecoverably the wrong colour. You can cover it with many other finishes subsequently.
Good idea to remove any finish from the area you are working on first so you are dealing with bare wood.
This is an example of a clock case repair I have done. I did have a before pic but can't find it now. In this case the side piece was completely detached from the top, and had a sizeable chunk missing from the side adjacent to the top. The repair was made by using colour matched hard wax, grained using a hot needle. The black marks replicated with paint and a very fine brush, then coloured shellac used to blend in with the surrounding wood.
This was done a few years ago but has lasted well.
Another common use of hard wax is on cathedral style clocks where the sharp corners of the "roof" often get damaged. They can be built up with coloured wax, then blended in. Same applies to corner damage generally.

 

[Fergie 307]

Thanks again. I will look at clamping techniques, I like the idea of shaped blocks for the up and down clamping. Not sure I be up to drilling for dowels or pins within the thickness. Done wrong it would positively stop the joint closing.

I think first step is going to be clean up, then take it from there.

You can always add rods to reinforce it afterwards I would have thought, as you say very tricky to get any holes to line up when the parts are separate.

 

[Fergie 307]

Trick is to keep offering it up until it closes as tightly as possible, then try and work out how to hold it there. More than once I have resorted to covering a piece of wood in cling film, then using car body filler to make a lump of material that fits it exactly and can then be shaped so the clamp can work as required. All good fun.
I agree with Spanner 48 on the use of Araldite in general.
Only thing to consider here is it does set to a darkish colour, so might not be suitable for your light wood.
But you do want something that doesn't go off too quickly, so you have time to make small adjustments. I find Gorilla glue is pretty good.

 

[Inspector]

Masking tape is just stretchy enough to hold a repair like that together while the glue dries. How hard is it to remove the seat from the legs and apron to facilitate the work?

Pete

 

[Fergie 307]

As an aside when my son was small he was very much into his Warhammer. He went to a number of workshops where they were shown how to paint the figures. I was quite impressed with the results so went along to one.
The instructor was really into his war hammer stuff, but his day job was in the movie industry making sets and props.
He could make something you would swear blind was a solid stone wall, or massive old timber until you tapped it and realised it was hollow. Quite amazing.
Learned some stuff that has proved quite handy.

 

[Fergie 307]

Masking tape is just stretchy enough to hold a repair like that together while the glue dries. How hard is it to remove the seat from the legs and apron to facilitate the work?

Pete

Sometimes a tourniquet made out of string can be very handy for awkward shapes as well.