Chair Restoration

G'day,

I have an old lounge/sitting chair, with a timber frame/arms that needs restoring. I'd prefer to do the woodwork myself and then take it to an upholsterer to finish off.

The frame itself is quite rickety. Not having ever done this before, my immediate idea would be to dismantle the whole thing, do the finish preparation, glue to back together and finish. I suppose the first question is, is this how it should be done?

Secondly, if I should dismantle it, is there a special way/product to separate the previously glued joints?

I’ll try to post a picture in a day or so, that way you can see what I’m on about.

Any help would be much appreciated.

HI Elill,

Yep you are on the right track, depending on the age of the piece if old pre 1950 good change the glue would be Hide glue in which case it will come apart very easily with some heat, Hair dryer, rag soaked in hot water or the careful use on a heat gun.

If it is that vintage then more than likely the finish will dissolve off with house hold metho rubbing with #1 steel wool. If it's a later vintage then stripper may have to be used and the glue knocked apart the a rubber hammer and great care.

All the best with the project.

Cheers

Seem to recall something about pouring meths into the joints to make hide glue brittle; then knock apart. Then it can be scraped off.

There is also Chair Doctor glue: injected thin, swells fibres, glues. Not used it; sounds chancy to me.

Here it is - doesn't look like much but its very comfortable...even in the state its in

http://i653.photobucket.com/albums/u...k007/Chair.jpg

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by rsser

Seem to recall something about pouring meths into the joints to make hide glue brittle; then knock apart. Then it can be scraped off.

---

To knock the chair apart I use a couple of bar clamps but with the bits reversed so that they become spreaders. This way it is easy to apply pressure and increase it at a controlled rate. Better than trying to knock it apart.


Peter.

Here is a suggested step process...

• Remove the arms, appear to be screwed
• Remove all the upholstery
• Hand sand all timber to remove majority of old varnish
• Any loose joints, separate if possible, re glue with PVA (Aquadhere) and maybe even screw any suspect joints (screw behind the upholstery of course)
• Stain and finish with a polyurathane.
• Send to the upholsterer with a suitable fabric.
• Enjoy when it returns.

Regards
Hap

Thanks for all the advice - there are no screws, those are dowels on the side.

I like the idea of the bar clamps, thats very clever. I'll try it with a meth soaked rag and/or some hot water.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by hap97

[*]Any loose joints, separate if possible, re glue with PVA (Aquadhere) and maybe even screw any suspect joints (screw behind the upholstery of course)

---

A word of warning regarding glueing. Whilst hide glue will happily stick to old hide glue, pva won't.

So if the old glue is pva or hide glue (and you are going to use pva) you will have to remove the old glue for the pva to work.

Peter.

The arms would need to be screwed for strength.
What you see could be plugs covering the screw holes.
I assumed the arms were on top of the upholstery, but looking further, the upholstery is around the arms.
The arms need not come off unless loose.
Hap

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by hap97

The arms would need to be screwed for strength.
What you see could be plugs covering the screw holes.
I assumed the arms were on top of the upholstery, but looking further, the upholstery is around the arms.
The arms need not come off unless loose.
Hap

---

Not sure the upholstery is actually around the arms from the image I have got, Still looks like the arms are over the upholstery to me with the picture enlarged but I could be wrong. If the arms are over the fabric then they will need to be removed to gain access to the upholstery. I agree, if the arms are over the fabric, the "dowels" will most likely be plugs to hide the screws.

If there is movement on the arms, they will have to be removed anyway for restoration work and re gluing/screwing. Hide glue is easy to restore because new hide glue will work with the existing glue so, as Peter mentioned above, bare this in mind when and if you use PVA glue.
Good luck with your restoration. :2tsup:

The fabric goes around the arms. Would it be better to re-attach them after its been re-upholstered? I suppose I need to find someone to do it first - anyonw know anyone in the northern part of Sydney? I live in Hornsby.

The arms are very wonky and need to come off so either way.

Looks like this will be my first foray into Hide Glue land (the chair is at least 60 years old) - is the out of the tube stuff ok? I cant recall who makes it..

You can get pellets from ubeaut by mail order.

Just make up a bit at a time as it goes off.