Repairing dining chairs.

[plasticpigeon]

I have some old dining chairs with casters at the front. The chairs rely on the strength of the joint at the back of the seat with the back legs/stiles to stop the front and back legs splaying forwards and backwards. Two of the chairs have very loose joints. This joint needs to be very strog, so I was thinking of using epoxy to make sure it doesn't come loose again, but it might be a bit exteme on antique chairs. Does anyonbe have any suggestions?

 

[88v8]

I had to repair an old chair recently.
An umble bit of turned work with a beech seat.
The joints were loose, but everything was still attached, so getting it apart was tricky.
Once dismantled, the old glue must be removed, down to bare wood.
Then the new glue can work effectively.
As it was going to be outdoors, I used Aerodux 185 which is a two-part resorcinol resin.
It may also be necessary to replace wedges &/or introduce reinforcement such as brass screws to close splits.

I've never had to repair a decent chair, don't have the skill, but we used to have an Edwardian set where the back joints had been dowelled and they were OK although I wouldn't guarantee them with an overly ample diner.

So yours are, what - balloon backs? My parents had an inherited set of those, they were a bit wonky and became firewood in the 60s. I think if you can get them apart and remake the joints, PVA will be fine. If it's more a matter of squirting glue into gaps then you may as well try epoxy. There's also dowelling, and even metal angle brackets screwed underneath.

Ivor

 

[CliffordPope]

If the joints are loose then you need a glue that has gap-filling ability. High strength alone won't be much good.

It mostly depends on how much trouble you want to go to, and how original you want to keep them. If fully original then you need to source old-fashined piano glue,or else boil up your own from bones or whatever they used.

But for strong easy repairs I use Gorilla glue - the foaming kind that expands to fill any gap. If you are really lazy you don't even need to dismantle it - stick tape over the gaps after application to persuade it to foam internally rather than pour straight out.
Carefully trim off any surplus after a few hours, and touch-up with brown paint if the glue line is visible.