The chairs look nice, Scott. I love to watch you do these complete restorations and I thank you for all of the details you share regarding technique, tools and products to use. Thanks for the video.
I really appreciate your attention to detail (like correcting uneven chair legs). Thank you for the videos and for directing us to other videos and other RU-vidrs for further information and education!
I so love to watch your videos as I learn heaps, I’m so new to restoration, you explain the use of gluing and what products to use and how to apply them. The way u use your hands is a must to watch, thank u for sharing your expertise. I’m from Australia
Hey,I just can’t wait to be inspire by the way fixe it,so I sit down,enjoy my evening by watching you Repairing furniture old and new inspiring others,Thank you
when you where gluing the chair up i was like "i don't think that weight is going to fully get the rock out this time, i think it needs some adjustment, but you know what you are doing" then sure enough, the chair rocked after it was dried. your usually really good about getting that adjusted right so surprised me this time. always love your video's.
What a transfirmation. Your videos are so detailed with so many tips, I find myself making notes. Thankyou, too, for your quiet manner and not playing elevator music. A joy to watch a master at work.
I retired 9 years ago. I started doing furniture repair / restoration and have been busy ever since. I watch your videos to see what we do that is similar and what I can learn from you. Thank you for your examples and instructional information.
You tell us not not fear using too much glue but you seem to be very frugal with your glue use. In spite of that your craftsmanship and attention to,details is amazing. And educational!
Very nice job. Tom Johnson turned me on to Howard's beeswax a few years back. I had never bought a product based on a video before. Best wood product I've ever used
wood stain your explanation gives me a better understanding of many connections. I only use fish glue as glue, so I can quickly take everything apart again if something goes wrong😊😂😂 geatings von germany
I enjoyed this video: I've had a coouple of partially-dismantled chairs hanging un my shop for a couple of years, now, and you've given me some good insight into how to save them! Thanks!
I appreciate that you share what you do, I also repair furniture for a living and have learned alot from your videos, always learning. I am not brave enough to face the trolls, the world needs more people like you!
A stunning result here Scott, really good and very enjoyable to watch you move through the stages one by one. Let's hope the owners buy their puppy a different chew toy to play with !
Thanks. I load the joint with enough glue that I get some squeeze out but if you load it up too much, you can have a problem seating the joints fully in the mortices. Cheers. Scott
8:38 I LOVE your fix for a worn out tenon, gluing a shaving around it to get extra wood into the joint! I saw this on your channel sometime back, and your idea saved a precious family heirloom! They'd tried PVA glue (but as a filler, in too large a gap), the little cheese grater strips, liquid nail (which came out in chunks after it had failed to bond, probably because they put it in over older dried glue), and even a small finishing nail driven from the bottom of the joint where the stretcher emerged from the hole, up and at an angle through the tenon. The small inset head on the bottom of the stretcher was no problem aesthetically being hidden, but even with this mechanical help, the joint still had movement (allowing the chair to wobble), because the part of the nail where it emerged from the top of the tenon into the leg was the only thing holding it, since it had plenty of gap all around the tenon. Once I cleaned out the remnants of those other fixes, and applied your 'wood-buildup-with-shavings' fix, the joint was as tight as new, and is ready to provide years of problem-free service! Thanks!
Very satisfying video. I am currently recuperating after surgery, so your lengthy videos are a breath of fresh air to me. Greetings from Guyana, South America 🇬🇾
This was good information. Unfortunately the stray dog I took in and adopted I found had a long list of naughty’s. And one was he got a couple lower stretchers on one of my good Amish white oak kitchen chairs. When I discovered that I was ready to throttle him or cry. Didn’t know which. I do woodworking and have a lathe. The problem wouldn’t be turning a replacement; it’s getting things apart to get the cross rungs loose and out. The legs go completely thru the seat and are wedged at the tops. One option: drill out the wedges at the tops, then drive the legs out. You would need multiple legs loose before you could work the cross stretchers loose. I hate the thought of this job. One of my thoughts was it might be possible to hand plane a flat spot to remove the chewing in the middle. Glue on a block. Plane again to remove chewing and glue on another block. Do that till your solid, then chuck it up and recut/ re-turn to the original shape. Even though I lost Moosie he’s left me some reminders. Got a shoe; ones I liked. A dish towel off the oven door. My entry rug; the larger one plus any number of small entry rugs. Was getting into my cabinet near the throne so I could come home to chewed toilet paper all over. Did in my old living room carpet. Mistakenly pulled out about a 50 cent spot of the pile to the backing. He was playing with his toys. Ended up where he peed on my base theatre speaker. I had to rebuild the enclosure on that. Peed on my TV stand leg that I made. I knew the rug was old and on its way out but.....He taught me to close my bedroom closet door. Keep toilet paper behind a closed door. He was like a kid. I learned to never leave him out of my site or I’d regret it.
I've been doing that for a while and it certainly makes the task go much smoother. I also reuse one of those disposable styrofoam meat trays as a tray underneath my glue bottle and spreader sticks (I use splinters, wedges, offcuts and popsicle sticks to spread my glue). It keeps any glue drips off my work and my bench. I can also use the same tray for mixing epoxies and when the adhesives are cured, they will normally just pop right off the tray, allowing me to get more use from each tray.
This is truly inspiring and educational. I can't wait to go get some (slightly less) busted up furniture and see if I can make something happen. Those chairs turned out looking good as new.
The far left spindle of my chair snapped near the top. The result is the two pieces have moved out of alignment, about an inch apart. It requires a lot of effort to bring the two pieces back together for gluing. Would you recommend drilling a hole and inserting a small nail/brad to keep them together?
I like your frugality with the glue when reassembling that chair, and I also like your proactivity to avoid making more work for yourself. I am sure the clients were thrilled to have those carver chairs restored. What an enjoyable forty minutes you have given your You Tubers.
I am attempting to restore a very old draw leaf antique table and chairs. I have watched several of your videos and I am trying to remove old dowels but they do not want to come out at all. They seem to just be part of the wood. Would you ever suggest just drilling hole the size of the dowel and just glue in new dowels without scraping out the old??
With finishes like the legs, I have had good luck with using liquid sandpaper and some 000 steel wool to clean it up so some fresh wax or finish will liven up the wood. Works great at removing that sticky buildup around knobs and the back of chairs.
Really helpful: thanks so much! One thing, though. I live in England and I very much doubt if I can get the proprietary glues you use in The States. So would it be possible to describe the TYPE of glues that you're using as well as the brand? (For instance hide glue, PVA, fish glue, etc.) And also, are these soluble glues available ready-mixed in most places? (I know PVA is a soluble glue that you can buy just about anywhere.)
Yes, I use latex rubber tubing for that. I don't use it very often but when I need it, there's nothing else that can do the job of something so flexible. I just added photo of that on instagram so you can see it. instagram.com/wooden_it_be_nice_canada/ This product is listed in my Amazon list, in the Woodworking Clamps section www.amazon.com/shop/homeimprovementwoodworking
New hear to your channel, really enjoying your work. I have a very nice antique rocking chair, well built and solid that I've acquired recently and noticed one of the rockers is toed in at the front compared to the other which makes it really out of whack at the back compared to the other making it look real crooked. Would like to have it corrected. Interested? Thank you!
If you'd like help with your project, here's a link about how to get a 1-on-1 video call with me woodenitbenice.ca/collections/woodworking-advice-sessions Cheers. Scott
Scott: these chairs are now beautifully restored. A lovely pair. Will there be a note attached to the chairs saying keep dog away from chairs? (Let’s hope he doesn’t smell or like glue.) haha In crafting, I always put the glue bottle on its side. Glad you gave that tip out to your followers. Carol from California
Another great video Scott. I always come away learning something new! The concept on the wedge vs grain was one, Yes I probably heard that many times over the years but like everyone else it rang as new to me!. I won't ask where you got the idea for the polish. I watch him too! thanks again for sharing. ECF
I question the wood movement of a wedge or is it in the chair back with such a small area. A table top yes. Then again the glue is just holding the wedge in place so it probably doesn't make much difference.
As I mentioned in the video, I'm not sure about wood movement on a wedge in a tenon, but I respect Curtis Buchanan's craftsmanship and that's what he recommends. Scott
Thanks Ellis. Openly, yes, I learned about Howards Feed-N-Wax from Tom Johnson. Have you seen our video together about wood glue? Tom's a great person to get to know. Scott
What type of glue was originally used, that white vinegar softened, so well? EDIT: Hide glue, which is what I suspected, but I haven't used hide glue, before, so I was unsure.
I don't have any acetone, but that might have done something. I stay away from the harshest chemicals... the most hazardous one I have in my workshop is Lacquer thinner and I don't use that unless there's no alternative. Scott
That's a good question. I'm not sure what to add that wouldn't jeopardize the integrity of the glue. I don't want to risk making the glue weak. Happy to hear any suggestions that have been tested. Thanks. Scott