The Best Glue

[AJ]

I am about to restore some old chairs that have loose joints. It has been glued before with a clear glue but the glue and joints have failed again and over time there are now gaps in the joins. So I am looking for a strong glue with gap filling capability. I used to have a 2 part glue (not Araldite) that was very strong but expensive and I can't recall what it was. Any ideas

[AlexS]

Depending on their age, they've probably been built with hide glue. They should be repaired with the same stuff (you can now buy it in liquid form) as it is one of the few glues that will stick to itself.
Most chairs that come unglued do so because of their design, and will do so again no matter what glue you use. If you use any other type of glue, it probably won't stick as well, and will be pretty well impossible to repair if it does.

[Master Splinter]

The other type of two part wood glue is urea formaldehyde. (See also Selleys 308)

If they have originally been glued up with hide glue, you can remove the hide glue with really hot water (its the only woodworking glue you'll find that is actually water soluble) and improve the fit by adding thin veneers to bring the timber thickness up.

If they have any 'antique' value, and that's what's been used on them originally, I'd stick with it to maintain their value.

If that's not the case - and it's been done with a PVA or urea-formaldeyhde or similar 'modern' glue, you are best off mechanically removing the old glue and starting again.

Epoxy resin has the advantage that it is good at gap filling, and you can reinforce it further with high strength fillers to improve the gap filling ability. See Welcome to the Bote-Cote Page for more details on marine grade epoxy and high strength filler.

[Ashore]

As they said , whatever you do don't use araldite or 2" nails