Carpentry and Woodworking - Rebuilding Victorian Chair.

Hello to you all.

I have a chair that I need to repair. I'm not sure what it'd technically be called but it looks like this chair (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v725/crackpotsmoker/victorian-chair-2.jpg) in terms of it's structural frame except that the piece of furniture I'm working on is longer than this chair: it's seat is extended starting from where the arm-rests on this chair meet the base of the seat frame.

Basically it has what looks like between three to four minor cracks at the top of the backrest frame along with one major crack that is jaggedly uneven. This is the first time I've had to deal with something as "intricate" and "delicate" as a piece of furniture. From what I can tell, it seems like what I'm going to have to do is dismantle the back section of the chair, repair the joints and then reassemble it.

I'd just like to know if you guys had any tips, pointers or reminders on what I needed to do and how I ought to do it.

Right now, all I know is that if I'm going to go ahead and take this chair apart, I better make sure I remember how to put it back together.

Thanks.

No pro, but one way to help you w/remembering what part goes back where when reassembling...

Prior to taking it apart, use masking tape on each end of each part of the chair and label them so when you reassemble it, you'll know what goes where. For instance, label them using the alphabets so "A" would go to "A" and "B" would go to "B", etc.

Also, take a picture of the chair :)

BTW: Welcome to the DoItYourself.com forums :)

Just got back from the high school.

Here's the first of three major cracks.
Front view:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v725/crackpotsmoker/The%20Chaise/100_0563-1.jpg

I think for this crack/chunk/upheaval/etc..., I'm probably going to need to re-attach the multiple-pieced joint, or remove the chunk that's about to fall and substitute in some sort of fabricated replacement. Either way, I'll need putty.

Here's the second crack.
Front view:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v725/crackpotsmoker/The%20Chaise/100_0562-1.jpg

Top view:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v725/crackpotsmoker/The%20Chaise/100_0559-1.jpg

Putty that one.

Third crack.

Front view:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v725/crackpotsmoker/The%20Chaise/100_0561-1.jpg

Top view:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v725/crackpotsmoker/The%20Chaise/100_0558.jpg

That's the crack that probably convinced me to go ahead and take apart the backrest so that I could individually repair the pieces in question and then reassemble the whole jig.

My questions are:

Do the ideas I have in mind seem plausible for the first two cracks? What type of adhesive should I use to seal the third crack? Any other reminders?

Thanks all

Forum won't let me put more than five pics at a time...


Here's the chair. Apparently it's called a "Chaise" which ought to be French for "chair", but I digress.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v725/crackpotsmoker/The%20Chaise/100_0566-1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v725/crackpotsmoker/The%20Chaise/100_0565-1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v725/crackpotsmoker/The%20Chaise/100_0564-1.jpg

I imagine you realize that in order to do the repairs properly you'll have to remove the upholstery...

Now, having stated the obvious:

Crack #1: Had a similar situation on a Victorian 'fainting couch' about a year ago. Reglued the 'wedge' to the piece on the left (as in your picture, then realigned the repair to the piece on the right. Tricky part is getting bar clamps aligned to put pressure on the glued joint without pushing it in the wrong direction.

Crack #2: Putty is your only option as far as I can see. Fill and sand to match the profile then touchup to blend with the natural wood.

Crack #3: This is the goody - realigning that and clamping it to stay put while the glue sets will be a little tedious. Once the upholstery is out of the way you may find you have enough of a ledge to run a dowel up through the joint. BTW, on repairs like this I use a section of 1/4" steel rod instead of a wood dowel, and an epoxy for glue to bond metal to wood.

Come on back as you work it and let us know how it's going.

I'll mainly have updates on tuesdays and thursdays because those are usually the days I go into the high school to help out.

But yeah.

Update 071016:

I attempted to put a machine screw in to help join the two pieces together for the third crack (countersunk, predrilled and preglued) when the teacher who "owned" the chair stopped me and made very clear that she didn't want me to do that. So I went ahead and just glued it and it's now waiting on a dowel that the wood shop teacher promised. Since the teacher also told me that I was not to take the chair apart (:wall: ), I can't do much else other than glue the remaining cracks, clamp them, and then pray.

In the meantime, I've found a fourth crack that is mostly hidden because it is still joined at the top, just split at the sides. I think I'll go ahead and continue my attempts to convince the teacher to let my dismantle the piece.

Crack #3: This is the goody - realigning that and clamping it to stay put while the glue sets will be a little tedious. Once the upholstery is out of the way you may find you have enough of a ledge to run a dowel up through the joint. BTW, on repairs like this I use a section of 1/4" steel rod instead of a wood dowel, and an epoxy for glue to bond metal to wood.


Do you cut any grooves parallel along the steel rod to let the glue run through? And yeah, you were definitely right about having the alignment of the clamps as a tough situation to tackle. I ended up using clumps of towel and cloth to cushion and form fit the structure with wooden blocks on the outside for leverage and strength before I used a bar clamp.

And some background info, I know it may seem weird that I'm following the directions of a teacher from a school I've already graduated from so here's the details. I just graduated from this high school and am attending a local community college to transfer away. Basically, I work at both the theater at the college and the theater at the high school. Technical theater is something that takes up a lot of my time. Plus, I'm getting payed. And yes, this chair is a set piece, so it doesn't technically need to be structurally sound as long as it looks convincingly exquisite, but apparently, the teacher and student director are not yet sure if someone is going to sit on that chair.

Thanks for the help and sorry for the rant.

Grooving the metal dowel rod isn't necessary - I would use a mild acid (lemon juice, vinegar, etc.) to clean the metal - just to make sure there's nothing in the way to inhibit the epoxy bonding.

As far as someone sitting in the chair - if they sit on the foot of the chair, no problem that I see, as long as they don't lean back into the head.

I got fixed the second two cracks but I'm still working on tackling the first. I've stuck the first one with two dowels going opposite to each other in an "X" pattern. What I've found is that this is one hell of a compound fracture. I wasn't able to take pictures but here is what I've mustered up on paint:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v725/crackpotsmoker/The%20Chaise/illustration.jpg
This is just an illustration of the top border piece.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v725/crackpotsmoker/The%20Chaise/illustrationannex.jpg
This is what it looks like underneath all the upholstery.

I'm thinking of removing the two dowels I've placed (Lord help me break the bonds of the epoxy.) and then replacing the triangle brace along with filling the crack with a liberal amount of wood glue and putty.

Sorry, it's been real long.

I have a question though, the students have already stained the chair. How much difference is going to show up between the gradient if I were to putty the joints and then have them re-stain it again? The teacher was in a hurry and I didn't have the time to budget to fix the chair "quickly enough" so she went ahead and had them stain it.

I'm still going to fix this thing though.

First of all, clean all of the junk out of the joint like old Glue, sawdust, little chips. Secondly, put a band clamp on the entire back to start to pull the joint together. Use a rope if you don't have one.Third, fill it up with 5 minute epoxy and clean off the excess. Then let it set. There are other broken joints up inside of the back or that one wouldn't be splitting. After the epoxy sets, take some course sandpapaer to the inside of the little broken out piece and make it fit the hole. Then epoxy it in, too. After an hour or so, take off the clamp or rope. Do any filling and sanding at this point. Now take some oil based paint that is the right color and touch up the repair. Artist's oils work fine, as does spray paint, sprayed into a lid. The environmentally friendly, low smell stuff won't work. This teacher is trying to cheap out on this and is not going to get a good lasting repair out of the process. These broken joints should have been repaired first, before the upholstery was added, because there are almost positively broken ones inside of it. When you clamp it, put the clamp on the widest part of the balloon back, not up near the break. Pull the whole thing together at once. Then put it in a corner where the back will be supported by a wall, because it will break again with any pressure on it if it isn't done right and your customer doesn't want it done right.