Stop My Seat From Splitting

[trvlnmny]

SWMBO has a favorite rocking chair. I have recently replaced the rockers for her and I am still her favorite woodworker. We have now noticed that the seat is starting to split. It looks like it along a glue joint going from front to back. The splitting is wider at the rear of the seat and narrower towards the front. At present it is only about 6" long. The split is similar on the top and bottom of the seat. At its widest is about 1/8". I believe the seat is pine. What are your suggestions as to how I can stop the split from continuing and rejoin it where is already apart? Thanks for all your help.

[Sonny]

Clamp the seat to close the split, then attach some cross pieces under the seat.

Sonny

[Robatoy]

Make sure she's not on the seat at that time....

[fenwick person]

I had a similar problem with an antique table top. Opened the crack up as much as I could with wedges. Works a SMALL amount of Gorilla Glue into the crack with a paper clip. Then used "pipe" clamps to hold it together while glue set up. Be careful, as Gorilla Glue "foams" and you can have quite a mess. As on poster suggested, maybe a "mending plate" or two underneath to strengthen it would be a good idea as well. Set them when you have it clamped together. Make sure the drill holes aren't too deep.

[knuttle]

Can you split it completely and re glue it?

I have a rocker that has split twice and have successfully reglued it bout times.

[-MIKE-]

There is no need to use Gorilla glue or any other polyurethane glue. It is weaker than plain old yellow wood glue and wood glue doesn't need water to activate it, like Gorilla glue does.

[Tim W]

Sometimes you can pour epoxy resin into the crack. You can seal the underside with parcel tape to stop it all running out onto the floor, and a bit of wax on the surface you don't want it to stick to can be useful. Cut away what you can when the epoxy turns to cheese before it hardens. That will give you the strongest repair and without building in any stresses from cramping.

Tim W

[Steve Turner]

This would be my exact suggestion if my first choice of dismantling the chair, fully separating the failed glue joint and re-gluing it were not an option.

[J. Clarke]

However regular wood glue creeps, which when you are trying to close up a check is no help at all. So does Gorilla Glue according to their Web site.

Then there is the issue that if it is in fact in a glue line then the glue has to stick to whatever is already in there.

Epoxy would be your best bet--sticks to just about anything, fills gaps, and doesn't creep.

If you can separate the pieces completely and joint them, then Weldwood Plastic Resin Glue would be another good option.

[Lew Hodgett]

---------------------------------- "Steve Turner" wrote:

------------------------- Use a low viscosity penetrating epoxy such as "Git Rot".

As suggested, tape bottom and open end of crack closed, then pour in epoxy and clamp shut.

Lew

[Morgans]

"Lew Hodgett" wrote

I would add one more thing to that.

LIGHTLY clamp it shut.

Because that will induce less stress in the wood structure that caused it to split in the first place, and that epoxy has the characteristic that it requires less clamping force for a good bond. Clamping too tightly is a fairly common mistake for people who usually work with yellow glues that use epoxy for the first times. If you clamp epoxy too hard, you actually starve the joint of the epoxy needed to bond the two pieces.

[Lew Hodgett]

--------------------------------- "Morgans" wrote:

------------------------------------- When using low viscosity epoxy such as Git Rot, you can use an alternate approach to that described above.

Tape both bottom and top of crack after clamping crack closed with just enough pressure to close crack.

Position chair so that crack is vertical, then pour Git Rot into crack.

Allow at least 48 hours cure time before removing clamp.

Tape can be pulled after 24 hours at 70F minimum.

This assumes you have not over clamped and the Git Rot can penetrate the full length of the crack.

Lew

[Robatoy]

I'm sorry, after reading the subject header I keep double checking if indeed I opened the wreck newsgroup or if I accidentally wandered into either a taylor/sewing newsgroup or weight watchers.

[Steve Turner]

I kept wondering how long it would be before somebody made a crack.

[woodstuff]

Not an answer, but I wonder what glue was used in the initial assembly and would such glue residue affect the bond of the new glue used in the repair?

[Robatoy]

Well, somebody had to do it.....

[Tim W]

You are right, I missed that. A very pertinent question. It might need to be sawn through to clear the old glue.

Tim w

[Josepi]

If you glue and fill the crack in the winter it will split and crack again at the other end next winter.

You probably have a piece of reinforcing wood at right angles to the saddle wood grain that is pushing the saddle apart. This should have been "slide fastened" to allow expansion of grains at right angles to each other.

Fix up or install a humidifier to stop this.

[Larry Jaques]

Who's "Taylor" and why is he on a sewing newsgroup for Weight Watchers?

Kontext, yew Krazy Kanuck, is KEY.

-- The art of life lies in a constant readjustment to our surroundings. -- Okakura Kakuzo

[Robert Bonomi]

Not very, or sew it would seam.