Crooked Tree
Established Member
Finished this little repair job a while back. Thank you to those who advised upon the approach and finishing.
The victim: one small antique table, made from mahogany (or similar).
The problem: broken foot on a curved leg. This probably happened long ago, and certainly before I inherited it. It had been subjected to a brutal repair which was now failing.
The approach: cut a slot in the underside of the leg and foot, araldite in a piece of M8 threaded rod (shaped to fit) as reinforcement. Araldite some mahogany-like timber on top to cover.
The offending foot
Old repair disassembled
Lined up the 2 components, marked for the slot, then cut it separately in each bit using chisels.
Assembled
Mahogany epoxyed on top and gaps filled with epoxy
Taped up the awkward shape and left to cure. The next day I found that it had set at the wrong angle
. Broke it apart, hoping it had not cured fully... and broke the whole leg apart. Doh. Now much worse than before I started.
Reassembled the leg in stages by pressing the bits back together and glueing with PVA. This time the foot was glued to the leg using only the metal rod to start with (was still attached to the leg). Then added the covering mahogany once cured. Shaped using chisels.
Now to replace the missing chunk on the top side of the leg. Following old text books, cut sloping flat faces at either end and flattened the bottom ready for a patch. Then tweaked the angle of the patch side slopes until it slid into place, sticking out proud of the surface.
Shaped using a coping saw, chisels and rasps/files.
Then filled in caps resulting from my disaster, and to cover some of the epoxy underneath using the good old PVA and sawdust method. Finished by sanding then french polishing and topping with brown wax. Also gave the other legs a going over so that the differential in the finish would not be so great. Result:
The victim: one small antique table, made from mahogany (or similar).
The problem: broken foot on a curved leg. This probably happened long ago, and certainly before I inherited it. It had been subjected to a brutal repair which was now failing.
The approach: cut a slot in the underside of the leg and foot, araldite in a piece of M8 threaded rod (shaped to fit) as reinforcement. Araldite some mahogany-like timber on top to cover.
The offending foot
Old repair disassembled
Lined up the 2 components, marked for the slot, then cut it separately in each bit using chisels.
Assembled
Mahogany epoxyed on top and gaps filled with epoxy
Taped up the awkward shape and left to cure. The next day I found that it had set at the wrong angle
. Broke it apart, hoping it had not cured fully... and broke the whole leg apart. Doh. Now much worse than before I started.Reassembled the leg in stages by pressing the bits back together and glueing with PVA. This time the foot was glued to the leg using only the metal rod to start with (was still attached to the leg). Then added the covering mahogany once cured. Shaped using chisels.
Now to replace the missing chunk on the top side of the leg. Following old text books, cut sloping flat faces at either end and flattened the bottom ready for a patch. Then tweaked the angle of the patch side slopes until it slid into place, sticking out proud of the surface.
Shaped using a coping saw, chisels and rasps/files.
Then filled in caps resulting from my disaster, and to cover some of the epoxy underneath using the good old PVA and sawdust method. Finished by sanding then french polishing and topping with brown wax. Also gave the other legs a going over so that the differential in the finish would not be so great. Result:
