I have been given an old chair with a broken leg. It is a peg leg as opposed to mortice and tenon. Can someone please tell me what glue I should use to repair this chair. I have not not done any restoration work before. Thanks
Which glue to use to restore old chair
- Thread starter jes
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gardenshed
Established Member
I'd use hide glue if you want to keep the integrity of the chair imho and still the best glue for this type of work.
Thank you. will hide glue be strong enough and also where can I obtain this glue from - a small quantity. Someone has just told me about a product called Titebond which is ready made. Again I don't know anything about it and where to go for it. Any pointers will be much appreciated. Tks.
Froggy
Established Member
jes":38n7sebt said:
You can buy ready made hide glue from Axminster. I used some in the summer for the exact same reason you need it and saw the chair recently - as strong as when it left my workshop.
RogerP
Established Member
gardenshed
Established Member
jes":14b8w6gs said:
Hide glue would have been the original glue the chair was made with, hence my mention of it if you want to keep the integrity of the chair and is easily strong enough.
Titebond is a modern type glue shipped here all the way from America, which to be honest is pointless imho as you can get similar glues for less money made here in the UK.
Newbie_Neil
Established Member
Hi Jes,
A restorer friend always uses Cascamite and applies earth pigments to get the colour right.
Where are you based?
Thanks,
Neil
A restorer friend always uses Cascamite and applies earth pigments to get the colour right.
Where are you based?
Thanks,
Neil
Thank you guys. I am not a restorer, and whilst I would want to do a good job repairing the chair I do not wish to go to great trouble in doing so either. I agree that it would be the right thing to do to maintain the originality and use hide glue. Just to give you an idea of what I have -in the absence of any photos and the fact that I am have no knowledge of antiques or any detailed appreciation of period furniture - when I saw the chair it 'it pleased my eye'. It is a fragile chair with quite thin frame and legs. When I removed the cushion it had horse hair in it. An upholsterer friend told me this was common and that I should keep the 'pad' to use it again. Titebond, being readymade will fit the bill and I will do the best I can to repair this chair. I just could not allow the owner to throw it in the skip!
My wife why I have brought more junk into the house! Thanks again. Jes
My wife why I have brought more junk into the house! Thanks again. Jes
Froggy
Established Member
Hi Gardenshed, Which other glue and from where please?gardenshed":qozz5qvz said:
gardenshed":tuxfkczh said:
Have a look at the link RogerP posted and you will see that in fact Titebond (the company) make several types of glue, including excellent liquid hide glue. They are also well known for making PVA glue (modern, and not so easily reversible) as do other UK-based companies.
I don't know of any other source of equivalent glue, which is much more practical for a one-off repair than setting yourself up with a heated glue pot.
Other potentially useful advice is to be careful about removing all trace of previous glue, and plan ahead for how you are going to clamp the repair in place while it sets. It's hard to know what to suggest without seeing your chair, but techniques include a loop of rope twisted tight with a stick; loops cut from bicycle inner tubes - and conventional clamps!
RogerP
Established Member
gardenshed":iw59rece said:
I know of no source for liquid hide glue made in the UK. If you know where it can be bought please give a link.
I'm sure the OP doesn't want to buy a glue kettle just for a one off job.
Froggy
Established Member
Axminster di it http://www.axminster.co.uk/titebond-*** ... prod22595/
RogerP
Established Member
Same product different supplier as my link further back in the thread - not made in UK though.Froggy":19icmvy3 said:
Hide glue is the stuff! It keeps the integrity of the original, and if you do mess anything up, is reversible with warm water. You don't need a special glue pot; a saucepan (while SWMBO isn't looking) and any sort of seamless food tin makes a perfect double boiler.
FWIW, in repairs to "antiques", my method is to use hide glue for any original joints, but if timber is actually broken, use Cascamite to repair it. No particular reasoning, but it seems to provide a good compromise.
FWIW, in repairs to "antiques", my method is to use hide glue for any original joints, but if timber is actually broken, use Cascamite to repair it. No particular reasoning, but it seems to provide a good compromise.
Thanks for all the info. I have ordered Titbond from Rutlands and will attempt the repair in the next few days. Then ask the upholstrer to do the soft work. Jes
Benchwayze
Established Member
For a one-off job you don't need a glue kettle.
Use an empty half-can from some foodstuff or other (I used a tuna tin). Two holes punched near the rim and insert a piece of wire to make a handle.
Mix the glue in the can and heat it in an old saucepan of water.
HTH
John
Use an empty half-can from some foodstuff or other (I used a tuna tin). Two holes punched near the rim and insert a piece of wire to make a handle.
Mix the glue in the can and heat it in an old saucepan of water.
HTH
John
Sgian Dubh
Established Member
jes":181sr048 said:
How does anyone that's responded so far with advice know that this chair was originally assembled with hide glue? I don't see any clues about glue type given in the original question. "Old" isn't very specific, and this chair may be no more than twenty or thirty years old, or it could be 200 years old. Wouldn't it be a reasonable idea to establish the glue type used in the original construction prior to offering advice on glue type and where to buy it? And the the question doesn't indicate the form of repair required-- it just says the leg is broken. What does that mean? The question didn't say the joint is damaged, it simply mentioned a type of joint. Slainte.
Your are quite right. I did not give all the details in my original question. I don't really know how old the chair is. I thought the use of horse hair may give a clue to its age. A round leg was attached to the seat frame with a dowel. The leg must have been pulled (sorry!) to one side at some time whcih broke the dowel and part of the seat frame into which the other half of the dowel went. I believe the orginal glue must have been hide because I removed the broken dowel from its socket by pouring a bit of hot water on it. As I said in my initial posting I am not an expert in these things and have no knowledge of antiques etc. hence my querry. However having noted all the information you guys have kindly provided I am begining to wonder if I should try to mend this chair mysef of have it repaired by restorer in case it is a valueable piece of furniture. I don't want to spend a lot of money on it and yet I would not want to ruin a good piece of furniture either. Jes
Sgian Dubh
Established Member
jes, now we're starting to get some useful information. The horse hair upholstery mentioned in an earlier post of yours isn't especially indicative of age. After all, when I started my training in the 1970s there were plenty of chairs still being upholstered using traditional materials and methods. Furniture from the 1970s is not "old" in my book. And a lot of the furniture we made back then was put together using PVA glue, casein glue, urea formaldehyde glues, as well as hide glue.
Hot water used to disassemble the spigot (broken off from the top end of the leg) from the mortise is an indication that the glue originally used was probably water soluble. Is there anything else you can tell us? For example, was the glue that remained in the joint brown and perhaps with sharp edges and almost glass like, and did it soften and become sticky when you applied the hot water? If so it probably was hide glue. Or was the glue a mucky white colour and didn't really soften, but sort of balled up and became a bit gummy? If the latter you are probably dealing with PVA glue.
Now that we know the top end of the leg has been broken off then I can be pretty sure that simply gluing the leg back together with glue (of any type) is not likely to work. You'll almost certainly need to turn a new spigot to go into the mortice in the seat, put a shoulder on it, and turn a smaller spigot on the other end that can be glued into a matching hole bored into the top end of the leg. You'll also need to fix up the the seat or seat frame that surrounded the bored mortice. These repairs can be effected with any suitable glue, epoxy resin, urea formaldehyde, PVA, hide glue etc as they are repairing the original broken wooden parts, which should be whole, but are not. The only part of the repair that may be critical with regard to glue type is the repair of the leg spigot to its bored mortise where, if the chair happens to be a valuable antique (unlikely from what I've read), you probably should use the same glue type as the original. Slainte.
Hot water used to disassemble the spigot (broken off from the top end of the leg) from the mortise is an indication that the glue originally used was probably water soluble. Is there anything else you can tell us? For example, was the glue that remained in the joint brown and perhaps with sharp edges and almost glass like, and did it soften and become sticky when you applied the hot water? If so it probably was hide glue. Or was the glue a mucky white colour and didn't really soften, but sort of balled up and became a bit gummy? If the latter you are probably dealing with PVA glue.
Now that we know the top end of the leg has been broken off then I can be pretty sure that simply gluing the leg back together with glue (of any type) is not likely to work. You'll almost certainly need to turn a new spigot to go into the mortice in the seat, put a shoulder on it, and turn a smaller spigot on the other end that can be glued into a matching hole bored into the top end of the leg. You'll also need to fix up the the seat or seat frame that surrounded the bored mortice. These repairs can be effected with any suitable glue, epoxy resin, urea formaldehyde, PVA, hide glue etc as they are repairing the original broken wooden parts, which should be whole, but are not. The only part of the repair that may be critical with regard to glue type is the repair of the leg spigot to its bored mortise where, if the chair happens to be a valuable antique (unlikely from what I've read), you probably should use the same glue type as the original. Slainte.
Thank you Slainte. It is qute clear that there is more to this than I had envisaged and you guys have much greater knowledge of such repairs than I have. Therefore I am going to take the chair out of the garage (when the SWMBO is gone shopping) and photgraph it and then post the photos for you all to see. You will then hopefully know the age of the chair and what repairs are required. Depending on what i hear, I will proceed or not. Thanks again. Jes
