Rubberwood is a light-colored medium-density tropical hardwood obtained from the Pará rubber tree, usually from trees grown in rubber plantations. Rubberwood is commonly advertised as an "environmentally friendly" wood, as it makes use of plantation trees that have already served a useful function.
Thank you for sharing a detailed explanation of this type of wood Peter. That's very helpful and I will pin this comment so others can see it as the first comment on this video. I appreciate you sharing your knowledge to help the furniture repair community learn. Scott
I was thinking rubber wood too. I recently started customization of thrifted furniture and recently learned about rubber wood being used on a lot of box store furniture.
This video came at a most opportune moment. My next door neighbor knows I do woodworking as a hobby, and asked if I could fix a chair which had some damage to one leg. Using the very techniques you presented today, I was able to take the chair apart so I could access the damaged leg and surrounding area, and then put together a plan of action to make a repair. I feel fully confident that I can return the chair to him in a day or so fully mended and as good as new! Thanks!
You're welcome Ian. I love to hear success stories like yours! My goal is to empower viewers to be successful in their repair projects and it sounds like you're well on your way to delighting your neighbour. Thanks for sharing that as I find it motivating! Scott
Great video, Scott. As someone who's recently retired from furniture repair my wife just asked if I had learned anything or reinforced what I knew. My answer was yes. Almost all my work was both on-site and fixed price by third party (e.g., warranty or protection plans), so taking to the shop and using the table saw was not a practical option for me. I have repaired a lot of legs where the threaded insert broke out the inside corner of the leg, though almost always on tables. I found that these legs were several inches square and the threaded insert only went in half an inch or so, the depth of the threaded insert. My usual repair was to glue the chunk back on and secure with a screw (as there was plenty of room on a table leg). The connector bolts and the pilot holes for the threaded inserts were almost always long enough that I could put the threaded insert in much deeper, into the unbroken wood and reattach. I would have to use a threaded insert without a shoulder on it, though, unlike the ones in your chair. Now, I do volunteer work at a place that outfits furniture to people coming out of homelessness, so I'm still seeing donated furniture that needs repair, when possible. "Plus ça change, plus la même chose" As far as wood id, I'd refer to that as "wood that should have been thrown in the scrap bin." I encountered a lot of brash and cross grain wood, but that seemed to be typical for Asian furniture, even the expensive stuff. I think my worst example was a top rail in a sofa. Right in the middle was a punky knot that was most of the width of the beam. It did not take much force to get it to snap. Why did they even think to put that in a piece?? Upholstered furniture, too, has a lot of OSB or particle board stapled together inside. And if 4 staples is good, 12 is more good, even if half of them miss the underlying piece :-) That's what you get when you get "Seven piece living room set only $399!"
Thanks for sharing your insights on this. I find your volunteer work inspiring. Do you mind if I share that in a Community post for other people to read about? Thanks. Scott
@@FixingFurniture I have tried to reply to this twice, but apparently it gets deleted. Yes you can. Despite having no outside volunteers during all but a couple of months, a small group of about 4-6 of us at a time from the Cincinnati Woodworking Club going in one or two mornings a week made over 700 pieces of furniture (tables and "cubbies") and repaired or assembled over 125 donated pieces in 2021. I'll post the host's link in the next reply in case it vaporizes, too. The organization furnished 1,334 homes this year, distributing 20,536 pieces of furniture to families coming out of homelessness.
Good Night, My Friend Your work, is wonderful. The chair is better than before. The wood was completely broke. And you, transform on a most new. Congratulations!!! Marcos Campos Rio de Janeiro Brasil
Hi Scott, Firstly, thanks for the great videos - I enjoy watching them all and often learn a few things from them - even the ones that are beyond my skill set. However, I identified that wood as a different wood than your other watchers. It looked like Paulownia which is often used in Vietnamese made furniture as it is a very rapidly growing plantation tree. But what clinched it for me was when you sanded it and remarked how rough it felt. Paulownia is very often large pored and can be a beast to sand smooth. We get a ton of Paulownia furniture here in Australia - and it often breaks.
Love your videos. Try removing the stoppers from the small syringes to fill them with water before removing the glue by expressing the water. Works for me.
I'm am always on the lookout for broken furniture. Usually I pick things up from the street, when people take their broken stuff to be picked up. So far I have saved two chairs and a dinning table. Often I could see that the previous owners had tried to fix the furniture but not with the right technique. The most common mistake is a simple one: glueing without pressure (lack of clamps or a vise I guess). Thanks a lot for all your videos! Greetings from Switzerland
Amazing video, For my syringes i draw through some alcohol or acetone to clear some glue out , then I draw water to rinse, and let it dry. It seems to last an extremely long time, I’ve actually never replaced tip. Now you’ve given me 9999 tips and I’ve given you 1😅
Really enjoyed the forensic investigation of the upholstered chair. Also, what’s your source for the silicone mixing cup and applicator? I’m in Canada as well, so should be able to find it.
I enjoyed your video. One thing I noticed when repairing furniture is that improper installation of insert nut can actually cause a wood failure. The hole for the insert nut needs to be deeper than the crib screw will be in full compression. If the screw bottoms out in the hole while tightening the chair leg it will force the insert to break out of the wood. Solutions for this are two fold. You can drill the insert hole deeper or you can cut the crib screw shorter. Both will allow you to secure the leg without breaking the brittle chair wood.
Scott, I’m surprised at the strong mixed reaction I had to this video. In the end those chairs are a classic example of you get what you pay for. Inappropriately designed joints made of weak inferior wood can’t help but result in the damage you dealt with. I’m afraid I would have relegated them all to the burn pile.
Quality chairs are made by craftsmen and women, not assembled by the customer, but this is the life of running a repair shop. The customer dictates what they would like repaired and how much they want to invest in the repair. Cheers. Scott
Here's a list of glue supplies that I use, including the silicone cup and spatula. Cheers. Scott www.amazon.com/shop/homeimprovementwoodworking?listId=NU1FP9NY2T70&ref=cm_sw_em_r_inf_list_own_homeimprovementwoodworking_dp_ofj5Blvx06cp1
I’ve been doing bookbinding for quite a while and one thing they taught us about pva glue is to take your syringe and drop it down into a water cup. It works great. I also have long needles that cans with my ender 3D pro that work very well also
Great work on the repairs. I truly appreciate your videos where you share your techniques and talents. Do you ever get dissatisfied customers that come back on you when/if their inexpensive furniture fails again?
Hi David. Yes, I had customers come back for warranty work, but it turned out, my repair held, but the wood broke in a different spot. Here's the video th-cam.com/video/ckUcecfQRb8/w-d-xo.html
Rockler makes a silicone glue brush that I love using. I haven't tried using it with epoxy, but for wood glue, it dries on the brush and then you can get it off in a big chunk.
Hello Scott, I am a beginner woodworker and I’m possibly starting a furniture restoration course in January. I have one question about the first chair: why hadn’t you glued the top rail dowels before reassembling the back? Or you did you and I hadn’t realized? I’m confused about this being necessary or not. Thanks.
Thank you for the video. It brought back some memories of similar blow out damage caused by securing legs with crib screws. In my case what I found was that the crib screws were long for the service. Over the years the owners tightened the screws compressing the surface wood until the screws bottomed out in the leg and with the aid of the embedded nut forced the wood apart. After repairing the wood fractures, I cut a half inch off of the crib screws and they tightened up well. I guess the same thing could have been accomplished by putting washers under the head of the crib screws.
Thanks for sharing that Barry. I appreciate you noticing the improved camera work... I've been on a learning curve to understand lighting and camera composition. Cheers! Scott
Scott: this video was very interesting. The restoration that went into that chair was quite something. And the fact that two more legs broke from another chair tells you what you are dealing with. As an interior designer, to be honest with you, after talking and asking a lot of questions of the customers, I probably would have suggested recycling all of it. The minute I saw both chairs, I knew what you were up against.However, I realize you did what the customer wanted. And your restoration job was excellent, as usual. Carol from California
Sometimes the amount of time and effort you want to have put into a repair is different if it's a lone piece vs. part of a dining room set with 6 or 8 chairs, table, hutch, and buffet, or part of a multi-piece bedroom set, etc.
As I've mentioned a few times on our channel, the customer dictates what they would like to invest in. Unfortunately, there isn't a good way to "recycle" furniture in many parts of North America. Millions of tons of furniture waste are sent to the landfill every year. My approach is to save it if the customer feels it's an affordable investment for them. In the case of the upholstered chair, the decision was easy for that customer. For the chair with the broken chair back, it was a tough call for them because it was part of a suite. The two individual legs were for a third customer for a pair of upholstered chairs. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this Carol from California... I like the way you sign your comments as I never forget your name! Scott
Scott: many times it is a tough call on pieces that match to a set. I really know and understand this. Let’s hope by recycling pieces of broken furniture that it is recycled in the right way and is being used again. Carol from California
Another fabulous presentation. Some repairs require creativity for the solution. Are the silicone cups easy to find? Much better than disposable cups for sure. Thanks for sharing!
Here's a link to the silicone cups and stir sticks amzn.to/3p7bzbu I shared a link in the video description of a group of glue supplies, so it may not have been obvious where to find it. Have a great weekend Sean! Scott 🇨🇦
Scott, I do appreciate you sharing your knowledge about wood working with the DIYers. I have been made aware of some of the mistakes I have made in the past. I went back and checked a table I did a couple of years ago and it is loose. I WILL BE DOING it again the right way. Thanks, Steven
Scott, other experts, have you seen metal dowel pins in chairs? I have an Ethan Allen all cherry chair, and the back leg is attached to the seat supports by metal dowels. Some green corrosion or possibly glue/ epoxy on the metal dowel. Not screwed in, vertical flutes like a wood dowel. Any opinions?
Nicely executed Scott. I was thinking Acacia wood, but its somewhat darker than your chair part. Since we mostly get antique furniture in for repairs, we don't see a lot of the newer furniture, but the Asian stuff seems to be more brittle than our American hardwoods.
Thanks for sharing that Michael. I get a mix of new, MCM, and antique furniture in my shop. I think it's the nature of living in the Greater Toronto Area, where there isn't an abundance of antique furniture. This wood is puzzling but I'm seeing a consistent number of broken pieces that shouldn't be broken. Happy Holidays.
Hey Scott! As a beginner your channel is amazing and I am so grateful for all the work you put into them. What do you do in a case where you uncover rotten wood on a project? I’ve deconstructed a wooden chair to reupholster and found that the frame of the chair is almost entirely rotted out and breaking away. Is this a project that I should abandon?
You mentioned changing the jointery so it's not as compromised. Do you have any videos showing this? I'd love to see you take a knockdown chair, with less than ideal jointery, and improve it.
I've done some furniture repair in my my thirties. I had a dresser and vanity that was my Grandmothers from the 1930's. I had to do some repair to the side panel on the vanity and I had a 1/4 inch piece of Birdseye maple I was going to use, and was planning on replacing a leg of the vanity that was chewed up. I stripped the finish on the leg and I had a real surprise. I could see growth rings on the leg but no grain what so ever. I took it to several the places I used to buy my hard woods but no one had a clue. It came out horrible.
Oh, that's too bad. It's challenging to identify wood and I've found the best resource for identifying wood is my wood finisher, who has decades of experience. Scott
Follow this link and go to the Glue for Woodworking section. You will find the West System products there. www.amazon.com/shop/homeimprovementwoodworking?listId=NU1FP9NY2T70&ref=cm_sw_em_r_inf_list_own_homeimprovementwoodworking_dp_ofj5Blvx06cp1
Really really appreciate the educational value of these repairs. However I’m sure we’re both aware that those chairs are going to be coming back in pretty soon
¡WOW! Un arduo y delicado trabajo Mr. Scott. Una reparación que posiblemente para muchos se diera por perdida esa silla. Gracias por los consejos y tips, pero aún más por compartir sus conocimientos y experiencias en la reparación de muebles. El mundo sería mejor si hubieran más personas como Ud. Saludos y enhorabuena.
Great video Scott. Spline insert was really interesting. Wonder what woods you recommend for those sorts of repairs. Especially liked the detail investigation of the leg with knot in the stress point. Lots to consider for the two chairs I now have to experiment with. One has a broken tenon which I was thinking of curing out and using a kind of spline patch to make a new tenon, and the other has torn through two mortice slots that were too close to each other. Here, a new top corner like in your video might help to reconstruct the end of the leg. If you had a broken tenon, what would you do. Do you have videos for this?
You did a great job on a difficult repair. Hopefully, the client’s next purchase will be one utilizing a better wood that will withstand the test of time. I suspect that the rest of the set of chairs are already fractured and will soon fail.
Scott, I am wondering if you made any decisions on the Tite Bond Dark PVA glue. I watched until the very end and tried to listen closely. I did not hear you mention the dried edges of the dark glue. I use Tite Bond for all my wood working. Just wondering if the dark makes any difference. Thanks.
Hi Bruce. The jury is still out on the dark glue. I think it's helping but I realized after this video that I need to do a test of regular PVA versus the Dark PVA... I kept the broken chair parts so I have something to work with. It will likely make a good Shorts video. Cheers. Scott
The wood on the white-upholstered chair is rubberwood/parawood from Vietnam. Hard but obviously not strong. Unfortunately it's used in way too much of the wood furniture being imported these days.
Definitely Rubber wood practically destroyed the small independent furniture industry here in Australia our factory could not compete with the cheap imports that look almost identical to our pioneer style furniture theres was made from 12mm rubber wood whilst ours was 19mm furniture pine
Have you had a chance to look at Patrick Sullivan's experiments with gluing end grain vs long grain? TLDR: there was a bit of a difference, but the PVA glue actually held even better than the lignin between fibers. You adding the spline to get more gluing surface was, of course, necessary, I wouldn't trust the cross grain crack either, but it felt like countering the small surface problem more than end fiber problem.
I bought a set of similar chairs from a big chain here in Quebec (Breault et martineau, not super cheap). I had 6 chairs. Within 3 years, I had had to fix 3 or 4 legs that broke, mostly WITH the grain ( like In the back of the chair we see in the video). Then after another year 2 of the chair had broken within the backrest, pretty much the same way that this chair had started to crack. Once that happen it was too complicated to fix again so, long story short, i asked for a partial reimbursement, they refused cause out of warranty, I threatened to sue and they accepted to reimburse and appropriate amount for what should have been an appropriate chair life (I suggested 10 years, which honestly, isn't enough.. still, i ended up being reimbursed for 60% of the original price).
Hi Sebastien. It's sad to hear that the wood used on those chairs was so poor but I'm glad you were able to get some money back from the retailer. It sounds like disposable furniture. Thanks for sharing that story with us. Scott
A little late but I'm going to say rubber wood. It's used on a lot of furniture especially flat pack pieces and bed rails, headboards, chairs etc that are mass produced
That grain there at 16:21 reminds me of what we call "sengon". I live in SE asia and this kind of wood is dirt cheap. It only take 5 years before you can cut it down for lumber. You can get 3 planks for $2. It is only good for casting concrete in my opinion. Usually once the builders have finised casting concrete they'll chop those planks off to boil water to make their tea. It's not really the kind of wood that last a long time. It's almost perishable outdoor. Leave it outside for 4 months without a decent waterproofing and it'll turn to mush. There are other alternatives but none of those grow as fast as sengon does.
If the chair was made in Vietnam, I’d guess that it’s a type of wood native to that area of the world… I see other people saying it’s rubber wood, so I’ll just hope they’re right…
Funny that this vid dropped just as I returned from finishing a repair to a £70.000 cabinet in the client's home. It was damaged by the moving guys. Thankfully it went well, but I'd have been been quite happy not to know the value of the thing, it might have been gone easier on my nerves.
Those cracks, I asked myself why would one not cut inside the outer edge of the wood, and glue the cracks afterwards, Then having very thin outer edges to have glued, you now have hollowed out the inside of where the crack was, You can actually fill that with an epoxy for extra strength, as it could be cut out way below the cracked area, top and bottom, being then many times more stronger, and not having to worry about any piece of it opening up again, same with that cross grain piece, remove dowel and once everything is filled with epoxy, the strength of that 3 pieces would be stronger than the original piece, That leg you put the small block n. it also developed a small crack, not sure if that occurred from putting that nut in there, , and not sure if it could have been avoided by using 2 clamps to hold it from splitting
What is your ratio of cheap furniture fails vs legitimate woodworking repairs? I'm curious which you make more off of, but i understand if you don't talk numbers.
I see about 20% of our business as new furniture problems. Sometimes it's shipping damage or poor design that's caused issues. Other times it's wood like in this video that splits or loose bolts on legs that the owner doesn't tighten and they cause a break. There isn't a difference in what is more profitable as we charge a shop rate for all work. I hope that answers your question. Scott
"There is hardly anything in the world that cannot be made a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and those who consider price alone are that man's lawful prey. It's unwise to pay too much, but it's worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money - that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot - it can't be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will have enough to pay for something better." John Ruskin
That weak wood would be ideal for stabilizing if a person really wants to fix those chairs, but I’m sure it would probably be cheaper to just make new quality parts instead of paying for that much cactus juice and all the time under vacuum
How can you be sure you are buying quality North American or European wood? Its too bad the manufacturer does not identify the wood they are using.If an expert like you has trouble identifying the species of wood what chance does the average person have when buying furniture.
Rubberwood is a light-colored medium-density tropical hardwood obtained from the Pará rubber tree, usually from trees grown in rubber plantations. Rubberwood is commonly advertised as an "environmentally friendly" wood, as it makes use of plantation trees that have already served a useful function.
Thank you for sharing a detailed explanation of this type of wood Peter. That's very helpful and I will pin this comment so others can see it as the first comment on this video. I appreciate you sharing your knowledge to help the furniture repair community learn. Scott
I was thinking rubber wood too. I recently started customization of thrifted furniture and recently learned about rubber wood being used on a lot of box store furniture.
When I saw it was from Vietnam the first thing that came to mind was rubber wood
This video came at a most opportune moment. My next door neighbor knows I do woodworking as a hobby, and asked if I could fix a chair which had some damage to one leg. Using the very techniques you presented today, I was able to take the chair apart so I could access the damaged leg and surrounding area, and then put together a plan of action to make a repair. I feel fully confident that I can return the chair to him in a day or so fully mended and as good as new! Thanks!
You're welcome Ian. I love to hear success stories like yours! My goal is to empower viewers to be successful in their repair projects and it sounds like you're well on your way to delighting your neighbour. Thanks for sharing that as I find it motivating! Scott
Great video, Scott.
As someone who's recently retired from furniture repair my wife just asked if I had learned anything or reinforced what I knew. My answer was yes. Almost all my work was both on-site and fixed price by third party (e.g., warranty or protection plans), so taking to the shop and using the table saw was not a practical option for me. I have repaired a lot of legs where the threaded insert broke out the inside corner of the leg, though almost always on tables. I found that these legs were several inches square and the threaded insert only went in half an inch or so, the depth of the threaded insert. My usual repair was to glue the chunk back on and secure with a screw (as there was plenty of room on a table leg). The connector bolts and the pilot holes for the threaded inserts were almost always long enough that I could put the threaded insert in much deeper, into the unbroken wood and reattach. I would have to use a threaded insert without a shoulder on it, though, unlike the ones in your chair. Now, I do volunteer work at a place that outfits furniture to people coming out of homelessness, so I'm still seeing donated furniture that needs repair, when possible. "Plus ça change, plus la même chose"
As far as wood id, I'd refer to that as "wood that should have been thrown in the scrap bin." I encountered a lot of brash and cross grain wood, but that seemed to be typical for Asian furniture, even the expensive stuff. I think my worst example was a top rail in a sofa. Right in the middle was a punky knot that was most of the width of the beam. It did not take much force to get it to snap. Why did they even think to put that in a piece?? Upholstered furniture, too, has a lot of OSB or particle board stapled together inside. And if 4 staples is good, 12 is more good, even if half of them miss the underlying piece :-) That's what you get when you get "Seven piece living room set only $399!"
Thanks for sharing your insights on this. I find your volunteer work inspiring. Do you mind if I share that in a Community post for other people to read about? Thanks. Scott
@@FixingFurniture I have tried to reply to this twice, but apparently it gets deleted. Yes you can. Despite having no outside volunteers during all but a couple of months, a small group of about 4-6 of us at a time from the Cincinnati Woodworking Club going in one or two mornings a week made over 700 pieces of furniture (tables and "cubbies") and repaired or assembled over 125 donated pieces in 2021. I'll post the host's link in the next reply in case it vaporizes, too. The organization furnished 1,334 homes this year, distributing 20,536 pieces of furniture to families coming out of homelessness.
excellent job, maybe i would make the splice longer. i have definitely learnt useful skills.
Thanks. I appreciate you sharing that! Scott
Good Night, My Friend
Your work, is wonderful.
The chair is better than before.
The wood was completely broke.
And you, transform on a most new.
Congratulations!!!
Marcos Campos
Rio de Janeiro
Brasil
Thank you very much
Tricky repairs… Thanks for everything you teach. It is useful, very interesting and your voice and manners are sooooo relaxing!
Hi Scott, Firstly, thanks for the great videos - I enjoy watching them all and often learn a few things from them - even the ones that are beyond my skill set. However, I identified that wood as a different wood than your other watchers. It looked like Paulownia which is often used in Vietnamese made furniture as it is a very rapidly growing plantation tree. But what clinched it for me was when you sanded it and remarked how rough it felt. Paulownia is very often large pored and can be a beast to sand smooth. We get a ton of Paulownia furniture here in Australia - and it often breaks.
Thank you Pete. I will have to check that out in the wood database to learn more about it. I appreciate your help! Scott
Love your videos. Try removing the stoppers from the small syringes to fill them with water before removing the glue by expressing the water. Works for me.
I'm am always on the lookout for broken furniture. Usually I pick things up from the street, when people take their broken stuff to be picked up.
So far I have saved two chairs and a dinning table.
Often I could see that the previous owners had tried to fix the furniture but not with the right technique. The most common mistake is a simple one: glueing without pressure (lack of clamps or a vise I guess).
Thanks a lot for all your videos!
Greetings from Switzerland
That's great! Thanks for sharing your projects! Glad to hear you're having success with repairs. Cheers from Canada. Scott 🇨🇦
Your knowledge and skill level are extraordinary. In what city do you live?
Thank you. I live in the Greater Toronto Area, in Canada. Cheers. Scott
So interesting! Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Good stuff, Scott.👍
Glad you enjoyed it!
Amazing video,
For my syringes i draw through some alcohol or acetone to clear some glue out , then I draw water to rinse, and let it dry. It seems to last an extremely long time, I’ve actually never replaced tip.
Now you’ve given me 9999 tips and I’ve given you 1😅
Excellent work and always informative. Thanks for sharing!
Our pleasure!
Really enjoyed the forensic investigation of the upholstered chair. Also, what’s your source for the silicone mixing cup and applicator? I’m in Canada as well, so should be able to find it.
Update: dug a bit deeper in description to see you have these listed elsewhere. Thanks!
Glad you found it Len! Cheers. Scott 🇨🇦
I feel like I am in shop class with Mr. Woods again. He was a genius. He gave me a lifelong love for woodworking and tinkering.
Lol. Thanks for sharing that James! Scott
excellent!
I enjoyed your video. One thing I noticed when repairing furniture is that improper installation of insert nut can actually cause a wood failure. The hole for the insert nut needs to be deeper than the crib screw will be in full compression. If the screw bottoms out in the hole while tightening the chair leg it will force the insert to break out of the wood. Solutions for this are two fold. You can drill the insert hole deeper or you can cut the crib screw shorter. Both will allow you to secure the leg without breaking the brittle chair wood.
Quality repair and presentation.
Thank you. I'm glad you liked it Christian. Cheers. Scott
Thank you
Excelent analysis and solutions!!!
Thank you Francisco. I'm glad you found them useful. Scott 🇨🇦
Scott, I’m surprised at the strong mixed reaction I had to this video. In the end those chairs are a classic example of you get what you pay for. Inappropriately designed joints made of weak inferior wood can’t help but result in the damage you dealt with. I’m afraid I would have relegated them all to the burn pile.
Quality chairs are made by craftsmen and women, not assembled by the customer, but this is the life of running a repair shop. The customer dictates what they would like repaired and how much they want to invest in the repair. Cheers. Scott
@@FixingFurniture If all furniture was very well made, we would not have much business
excellent video
Thank you very much!
Very informative video on repair considerations and methods. Thanks for posting.
Glad it was helpful Tom! Thanks for watching. Scott 🇨🇦
Really enjoy your videos, where did you get the silicone cup And spoon
Here's a list of glue supplies that I use, including the silicone cup and spatula. Cheers. Scott www.amazon.com/shop/homeimprovementwoodworking?listId=NU1FP9NY2T70&ref=cm_sw_em_r_inf_list_own_homeimprovementwoodworking_dp_ofj5Blvx06cp1
I’ve been doing bookbinding for quite a while and one thing they taught us about pva glue is to take your syringe and drop it down into a water cup. It works great. I also have long needles that cans with my ender 3D pro that work very well also
How would using ca glue work compared to the pva carpenters glue you used
CA glue is fragile. It is strong for tensile strength but very week for shearing strength. Not a glue for furniture. I hope that helps. Scott
Very well done. Great instruction.
Thank you! Cheers! Scott 🇨🇦
thanks
Excellent work!
Thank you! Cheers!
Excellent repair. Nicely explained, thank you.
Glad you liked it Dave. Thanks for watching. Scott 🇨🇦
Very, very useful and practical as well. Patient explanations. I’m working on a similar break so this is particularly timely.
Oh, that's great Corey. I'm glad to hear this is helping you out. Scott
Great information!
Great work on the repairs. I truly appreciate your videos where you share your techniques and talents. Do you ever get dissatisfied customers that come back on you when/if their inexpensive furniture fails again?
Hi David. Yes, I had customers come back for warranty work, but it turned out, my repair held, but the wood broke in a different spot. Here's the video th-cam.com/video/ckUcecfQRb8/w-d-xo.html
Rockler makes a silicone glue brush that I love using. I haven't tried using it with epoxy, but for wood glue, it dries on the brush and then you can get it off in a big chunk.
Hello Scott, I am a beginner woodworker and I’m possibly starting a furniture restoration course in January.
I have one question about the first chair: why hadn’t you glued the top rail dowels before reassembling the back?
Or you did you and I hadn’t realized? I’m confused about this being necessary or not. Thanks.
Awesome! Really enjoyed this. Thank you!
Glad you enjoyed it! Scott 🇨🇦
Thank you for the video. It brought back some memories of similar blow out damage caused by securing legs with crib screws. In my case what I found was that the crib screws were long for the service. Over the years the owners tightened the screws compressing the surface wood until the screws bottomed out in the leg and with the aid of the embedded nut forced the wood apart. After repairing the wood fractures, I cut a half inch off of the crib screws and they tightened up well. I guess the same thing could have been accomplished by putting washers under the head of the crib screws.
Ottimo lavoro, complimenti👍👍👍
Grazie Manuel! Scott 🇨🇦
Great presentation. Having the different examples sure helped. And your camera work is improving. Thanks!
Thanks for sharing that Barry. I appreciate you noticing the improved camera work... I've been on a learning curve to understand lighting and camera composition. Cheers! Scott
As always great video!
Thanks Shawn. Scott 🇨🇦
Scott: this video was very interesting. The restoration that went into that chair was quite something. And the fact that two more legs broke from another chair tells you what you are dealing with. As an interior designer, to be honest with you, after talking and asking a lot of questions of the customers, I probably would have suggested recycling all of it. The minute I saw both chairs, I knew what you were up against.However, I realize you did what the customer wanted. And your restoration job was excellent, as usual. Carol from California
Sometimes the amount of time and effort you want to have put into a repair is different if it's a lone piece vs. part of a dining room set with 6 or 8 chairs, table, hutch, and buffet, or part of a multi-piece bedroom set, etc.
As I've mentioned a few times on our channel, the customer dictates what they would like to invest in. Unfortunately, there isn't a good way to "recycle" furniture in many parts of North America. Millions of tons of furniture waste are sent to the landfill every year. My approach is to save it if the customer feels it's an affordable investment for them. In the case of the upholstered chair, the decision was easy for that customer. For the chair with the broken chair back, it was a tough call for them because it was part of a suite. The two individual legs were for a third customer for a pair of upholstered chairs. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this Carol from California... I like the way you sign your comments as I never forget your name! Scott
Scott: many times it is a tough call on pieces that match to a set. I really know and understand this. Let’s hope by recycling pieces of broken furniture that it is recycled in the right way and is being used again. Carol from California
hi Scott! greetings from Russia!
Hello there! Thanks for watching from Russia. Cheers 🇨🇦
I feel like I learn something new from every single video you post. Loving it!
Glad to hear it! Thanks for sharing that Marius. Scott 🇨🇦
Another fabulous presentation. Some repairs require creativity for the solution. Are the silicone cups easy to find? Much better than disposable cups for sure. Thanks for sharing!
Here's a link to the silicone cups and stir sticks amzn.to/3p7bzbu I shared a link in the video description of a group of glue supplies, so it may not have been obvious where to find it. Have a great weekend Sean! Scott 🇨🇦
Scott,
I do appreciate you sharing your knowledge about wood working with the DIYers. I have been made aware of some of the mistakes I have made in the past. I went back and checked a table I did a couple of years ago and it is loose. I WILL BE DOING it again the right way.
Thanks,
Steven
Glad to help Steven! Cheers. Scott
Scott, other experts, have you seen metal dowel pins in chairs? I have an Ethan Allen all cherry chair, and the back leg is attached to the seat supports by metal dowels. Some green corrosion or possibly glue/ epoxy on the metal dowel. Not screwed in, vertical flutes like a wood dowel. Any opinions?
always love your vids!!
Thank you! Scott
one of your best videos so far!!! very interesting and helpful….
Happy to hear that! Thank you. Scott 🇨🇦
Great Solutions to some difficult repairs. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Thank you Peter and the same to you. Cheers. Scott 🇨🇦
Mr. Rassler is correct. The wood based on one of the close-ups you showed looks like parawood. These are old rubber trees that are past producing.
Oh, that's interesting Jeff. Thank you for sharing that. It will allow me to better understand the characteristics of the wood. Scott 🇨🇦
Nicely executed Scott. I was thinking Acacia wood, but its somewhat darker than your chair part. Since we mostly get antique furniture in for repairs, we don't see a lot of the newer furniture, but the Asian stuff seems to be more brittle than our American hardwoods.
Thanks for sharing that Michael. I get a mix of new, MCM, and antique furniture in my shop. I think it's the nature of living in the Greater Toronto Area, where there isn't an abundance of antique furniture. This wood is puzzling but I'm seeing a consistent number of broken pieces that shouldn't be broken. Happy Holidays.
Hey Scott! As a beginner your channel is amazing and I am so grateful for all the work you put into them. What do you do in a case where you uncover rotten wood on a project? I’ve deconstructed a wooden chair to reupholster and found that the frame of the chair is almost entirely rotted out and breaking away. Is this a project that I should abandon?
Scott i always injoy your content, real knowledgeable infow.
Glad you enjoy it Dana. Thanks for sharing that. Scott 🇨🇦
You mentioned changing the jointery so it's not as compromised. Do you have any videos showing this? I'd love to see you take a knockdown chair, with less than ideal jointery, and improve it.
Scott, learning so much. Any input on replicating a rocker for a 50 year old chair?
Thanks for this channel.
I've done some furniture repair in my my thirties. I had a dresser and vanity that was my Grandmothers from the 1930's. I had to do some repair to the side panel on the vanity and I had a 1/4 inch piece of Birdseye maple I was going to use, and was planning on replacing a leg of the vanity that was chewed up. I stripped the finish on the leg and I had a real surprise. I could see growth rings on the leg but no grain what so ever. I took it to several the places I used to buy my hard woods but no one had a clue. It came out horrible.
Oh, that's too bad. It's challenging to identify wood and I've found the best resource for identifying wood is my wood finisher, who has decades of experience. Scott
I really look forward to your shows
Thank you Robert! Scott
What kind of glue do you get and what glue for the furniture?
to order "WEST SYSTEM 105" how to do? thanks Daniele
Follow this link and go to the Glue for Woodworking section. You will find the West System products there. www.amazon.com/shop/homeimprovementwoodworking?listId=NU1FP9NY2T70&ref=cm_sw_em_r_inf_list_own_homeimprovementwoodworking_dp_ofj5Blvx06cp1
Really really appreciate the educational value of these repairs. However I’m sure we’re both aware that those chairs are going to be coming back in pretty soon
¡WOW! Un arduo y delicado trabajo Mr. Scott. Una reparación que posiblemente para muchos se diera por perdida esa silla. Gracias por los consejos y tips, pero aún más por compartir sus conocimientos y experiencias en la reparación de muebles. El mundo sería mejor si hubieran más personas como Ud. Saludos y enhorabuena.
Bravissimo i really enjoy your projects
Thank you very much Antonio! Scott 🇨🇦
Thanks, Scott,, very useful tips, and as usual, a great video!
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for sharing that Paul. I appreciate it. Scott 🇨🇦
I have seen other furniture guys use wooden pegs to strengthen glued joints.
Thanks for sharing that James. Using dowels can add strength or weaken the wood connection so they need to be used properly. Cheers. Scott
Great video Scott. Spline insert was really interesting. Wonder what woods you recommend for those sorts of repairs. Especially liked the detail investigation of the leg with knot in the stress point. Lots to consider for the two chairs I now have to experiment with. One has a broken tenon which I was thinking of curing out and using a kind of spline patch to make a new tenon, and the other has torn through two mortice slots that were too close to each other. Here, a new top corner like in your video might help to reconstruct the end of the leg. If you had a broken tenon, what would you do. Do you have videos for this?
Dziękuje za fajny film.
Zdrowia zyczę.
Nie ma za co. Wesołych Świąt. Scott 🇨🇦
You did a great job on a difficult repair. Hopefully, the client’s next purchase will be one utilizing a better wood that will withstand the test of time. I suspect that the rest of the set of chairs are already fractured and will soon fail.
Sometimes a piece of wood fails. Hopefully that's the only part in the set. Cheers. Scott
Scott, I am wondering if you made any decisions on the Tite Bond Dark PVA glue. I watched until the very end and tried to listen closely. I did not hear you mention the dried edges of the dark glue. I use Tite Bond for all my wood working. Just wondering if the dark makes any difference. Thanks.
Hi Bruce. The jury is still out on the dark glue. I think it's helping but I realized after this video that I need to do a test of regular PVA versus the Dark PVA... I kept the broken chair parts so I have something to work with. It will likely make a good Shorts video. Cheers. Scott
The wood on the white-upholstered chair is rubberwood/parawood from Vietnam. Hard but obviously not strong. Unfortunately it's used in way too much of the wood furniture being imported these days.
Thank you for your help to identify this wood. I appreciate your insights. Scott 🇨🇦
Definitely Rubber wood practically destroyed the small independent furniture industry here in Australia our factory could not compete with the cheap imports that look almost identical to our pioneer style furniture theres was made from 12mm rubber wood whilst ours was 19mm furniture pine
Have you had a chance to look at Patrick Sullivan's experiments with gluing end grain vs long grain? TLDR: there was a bit of a difference, but the PVA glue actually held even better than the lignin between fibers. You adding the spline to get more gluing surface was, of course, necessary, I wouldn't trust the cross grain crack either, but it felt like countering the small surface problem more than end fiber problem.
I bought a set of similar chairs from a big chain here in Quebec (Breault et martineau, not super cheap). I had 6 chairs. Within 3 years, I had had to fix 3 or 4 legs that broke, mostly WITH the grain ( like In the back of the chair we see in the video). Then after another year 2 of the chair had broken within the backrest, pretty much the same way that this chair had started to crack.
Once that happen it was too complicated to fix again so, long story short, i asked for a partial reimbursement, they refused cause out of warranty, I threatened to sue and they accepted to reimburse and appropriate amount for what should have been an appropriate chair life (I suggested 10 years, which honestly, isn't enough.. still, i ended up being reimbursed for 60% of the original price).
Hi Sebastien. It's sad to hear that the wood used on those chairs was so poor but I'm glad you were able to get some money back from the retailer. It sounds like disposable furniture. Thanks for sharing that story with us. Scott
Sir how can I contact you I have broken couch and no one is giving me a hope to fix it please I need to show you and need ur advice
On the. junk chair, the leg wood seems to be eucalyptus and the top stretcher is acacia. Eucalyptus is known to be brittle.
Thank you for sharing that Walter. That's helpful! Scott
A little late but I'm going to say rubber wood. It's used on a lot of furniture especially flat pack pieces and bed rails, headboards, chairs etc that are mass produced
Thank you. I appreciate that. Scott
That grain there at 16:21 reminds me of what we call "sengon". I live in SE asia and this kind of wood is dirt cheap. It only take 5 years before you can cut it down for lumber. You can get 3 planks for $2.
It is only good for casting concrete in my opinion.
Usually once the builders have finised casting concrete they'll chop those planks off to boil water to make their tea.
It's not really the kind of wood that last a long time. It's almost perishable outdoor. Leave it outside for 4 months without a decent waterproofing and it'll turn to mush.
There are other alternatives but none of those grow as fast as sengon does.
What if the furniture I need to repair is made of particle board?
If the chair was made in Vietnam, I’d guess that it’s a type of wood native to that area of the world… I see other people saying it’s rubber wood, so I’ll just hope they’re right…
Thanks for sharing that. Scott
Can’t help thinking that chair repair would cost more than making a whole new chair.
Depends on what chair it is.
That could be rubberwood. It's used for furniture after it's use of rubber production.
Thanks for sharing that Randy. A few others have suggested this too, so I'm starting to see a trend. I appreciate your help on this! Scott
The wood most used to make furniture in Viet Nam is Acacia. My guess is that’s what you are working on.
Harold, that was my initial guess also, but most of the acacia I've run into is darker, so I just wasn't certain.
Thanks for sharing that Micheal. Helpful as always! Scott 🇨🇦
Thank you Harold. I appreciate your help to identify this wood! Scott 🇨🇦
Funny that this vid dropped just as I returned from finishing a repair to a £70.000 cabinet in the client's home. It was damaged by the moving guys. Thankfully it went well, but I'd have been been quite happy not to know the value of the thing, it might have been gone easier on my nerves.
Glad it went well for you! Thanks for sharing that. Scott
Those cracks, I asked myself why would one not cut inside the outer edge of the wood, and glue the cracks afterwards, Then having very thin outer edges to have glued, you now have hollowed out the inside of where the crack was, You can actually fill that with an epoxy for extra strength, as it could be cut out way below the cracked area, top and bottom, being then many times more stronger, and not having to worry about any piece of it opening up again, same with that cross grain piece, remove dowel and once everything is filled with epoxy, the strength of that 3 pieces would be stronger than the original piece,
That leg you put the small block n. it also developed a small crack, not sure if that occurred from putting that nut in there,
, and not sure if it could have been avoided by using 2 clamps to hold it from splitting
Looks like Teak
Since it was made in Vietnam the wood might be Siamese Rosewood.
Thanks Wayne. I will check that out in the wood database. I appreciate your help with this puzzle. Scott
What is your ratio of cheap furniture fails vs legitimate woodworking repairs? I'm curious which you make more off of, but i understand if you don't talk numbers.
I see about 20% of our business as new furniture problems. Sometimes it's shipping damage or poor design that's caused issues. Other times it's wood like in this video that splits or loose bolts on legs that the owner doesn't tighten and they cause a break. There isn't a difference in what is more profitable as we charge a shop rate for all work. I hope that answers your question. Scott
Those chairs belong in the firewood pile from the factory imho. Nice repairs though .
rubberwood. that would be my guess
You asked what kind of wood you have it's (China berry) better known as hack berry very cheap wood.
Thank you for sharing that Steve! I appreciate it. Scott
My guess is the wood is Vietnamese Rubberwood. Cheap, but not what I would use for furniture.
Thanks Paul. I will look into that. I appreciate you sharing that so I can so some research on it. Cheers. Scott 🇨🇦
"There is hardly anything in the world that cannot be made a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and those who consider price alone are that man's lawful prey. It's unwise to pay too much, but it's worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money - that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot - it can't be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will have enough to pay for something better." John Ruskin
My first thought about this quote was "that sounds like a quote from a philosopher". Then I looked up John Ruskin and smiled. Cheers. Scott
Maybe the customer should tell people not to lean back on the chairs on two legs I suspect that’s what brought all of them
Rubberwood?
Thank you for your suggestion for the wood species. There are a few others that suggest the same so you might be right. Thanks. Scott
That weak wood would be ideal for stabilizing if a person really wants to fix those chairs, but I’m sure it would probably be cheaper to just make new quality parts instead of paying for that much cactus juice and all the time under vacuum
Может это гевея
What would you recommend instead of hide glue? As an ethical vegetarian, that is not something I would use.
Not positive, but I'd say this wood has a name: junk !
Außer ganz viel rumlabern passiert nicht viel außer das man dem Zuschauer 10 Minuten lang ei abgebrochenes Stuhlbein zeigt
How can you be sure you are buying quality North American or European wood? Its too bad the manufacturer does not identify the wood they are using.If an expert like you has trouble identifying the species of wood what chance does the average person have when buying furniture.