Regluing old table

I have to rebuild a table that has become loose at the joints/dowels. Not sure what sort of glue was used previously but suspect it may have been hot hide glue. What is the best way of treating the reassembly? Use hide glue again? Clean up all parts and use modern glue? should I remove the dowels that are NOT loose? It is not a masterpiece table, and has been used for holding an overhead projector which has been too much load for it and it has become 'wobbly. I am going to not only reglue, but also add some reinforcing at the corners etc. to make it better able to stand the load. Peter.

Reply to
L. Peter Stacey
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I would disassemble the table as best you can and remove all old glue possible with something like an old hacksaw blade .dowels that are still tight leave them alone replace loose ones . reglue with a yellow glue such as tightbond /elmers carpenters glue underpressure with clamps and leave for

24 hours....mjh
Reply to
mike hide

If you can clean it up and re-glue wood to wood then use yellow glue. If the old glue is not easily removable then use epoxy.

I would remove all dowels and maybe ream the holes out to the next larger sized dowel.

I think it was FWW magazine that had a whole article on re-gluing last month. I could be wrong, I've read a few other rags lately too.

BW

Reply to
SonomaProducts.com

After cleaning up joints, they probably will be loose so use an epoxy glue to fill the space.

Reply to
Frank J. Vitale

Do use an epoxy...it won't fill the space w/ an effective joint that will hold and will make any future repair nearly impossible...

Reply to
Duane Bozarth

You will get a much better bond with epoxy if you add some micro balloons to create a thickened mixture, say about like mayo.

A word of caution:

Microballoons turn the epoxy mixture white unless you are using VERY expensive ($300/lb) pheonilic balloons, so don't use an excessive amount to form a joint unless you want a miserable clean up job.

Lew

Reply to
Lew Hodgett

Microballoons don't really add strength; they're mostly used to create a low-density, easy to shape/sand mixture for fairing, where strength is not important. There are much better fillers if you're after gap filling and bonding strength.

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Reply to
Roy Smith

Cab-O-Sil, Aer-O-Sil, etc (colloidal silica) thicken the resin, help with the vertical hang time, and definitely make sanding a bitch when cured.

I have found they do little for me when trying to glue things together.

OTOH, micro balloons tend to form a very gooey glop of adhesive.

As far as redoing a furniture joint is concerned, a flying red horse at

1,000 ft won't be able to see the difference between either approach.

LEW

Reply to
Lew Hodgett

Use wood flour or very fine sawdust. Cheap or free.

Reply to
Hax Planx

That's why micro balloons are needed to thicken the epoxy; however, straight epoxy will still blow ther sox of any other adhesive you try to use.

Lew

Reply to
Lew Hodgett

Pure garbage IMHO.

Why waste good epoxy when good fillers are so inexpensive?

Lew

Reply to
Lew Hodgett

Whatever. System 3 sells wood flour for the very purpose of thickening their epoxy. There is a detailed pamphlet that goes with their epoxy that gives an overview of a variety of fillers. They all have their uses according to the manufacturer. The wood flour gives it a color about the same as hide glue. It didn't waste the epoxy when I used it, whatever you meant by that. The things I glued with it are holding just fine.

Reply to
Hax Planx

The one time I needed to thicken epoxy I used fine sawdust and it worked just fine. I don't know where you buy epoxy, but the amount needed to reglue a table doesn't cost very much.

Reply to
toller

Wood flour provides a color match, but it does nothing to add strength.

As the old saying goes, "different horses for different courses".

Lew

Reply to
Lew Hodgett

Sawdust will thicken the epoxy, but does nothing to add strength.

Epoxy is so much better as an adhesive than other glues available for furniture that it probably doesn't make any difference.

Lew

Reply to
Lew Hodgett

Sorry Lew but after repairing many more chairs than I care to count I agree with Duane. If epoxy is so good why bother with dowels at all...mjh

Reply to
mike hide

Not sure I understand that one.

The epoxy serves as an adhesive while the dowel serves as a structrual member, not exactly the same thing.

Now if you want to make fiberglass dowels held in place with epoxy.............. Naw, don't go there.

Lew

Reply to
Lew Hodgett

I've used a heat-gun an a lot of wiggling to get loose by inseparable hide glue joints apart. The remaining hide glue can be cleaned up with hot vinegar. Use this to clean up the entire joint before re-gluing.

If the dowels are loose then a thin shaving, made with a plane, can be wrapped and glued around the dowel to make it fit tighter.

Since its not a "masterpiece" yellow glue can be used to reassemble.

Reply to
Ross A. Virostko

IMHO a better option is to size the dowels ends with the glue you intend to use and then wrap 'em with cotton or silk to the dia required; much like the old TOC bamboo fishing rods. It was a widely used method here in Oz at the turn of the century, I've no idea why it's not more common today. :\

Reply to
Andy McArdle

Never heard of that one here in the US. My suggestions come from a magazine article I read may years ago. I actually used both techniques, the vinegar and dowel thickening, on a certainly "no masterpiece" table that was supposedly made by my great grandfather.

At a show about 8yrs ago I saw a guy who was recommending that you just clamp up the loose joint, cross-drill 1/16th holes through the dowels and inject epoxy. I guess that is literally liquid nails.

Reply to
Ross A. Virostko

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