Fixing Loose Joints in Ercol Chairs, More Thoughts.

I describe using Chair Doctor Glue in my first post and over the last week I have been working my way through a pile of Quaker Windsor chair glueing loose backs etc. I have come up with a sequence which will I hope have the best chance of achieving a successful result. Leave the glue to harden fully for a day in between each section

1. Upend the chair and work on the joints where legs are fixed into the seat base and the H brace between the legs. Unless you can achieve a rock solid base there is no point in going any further

2. With the chair upside down again, glue the top of the back spindles into the arch. This sequence is favoured because it allows maximum free play with spindles able to be jiggled and twisted to maximise glue pentration into the fixing holes. When happy that the joint is well glued push spindles into the arch as hard as possible.

Note how flexing the back opens up the joint to allow glue in.

A ring of glue around each joint. When applying glue leave a gap to allow air to escape as glue seeps in.

3. Chair right way up, glue arch and spindles into seat base, when glue has penetrated, flip chair and glue where arch and wedges poke through the base. It can help if this area is roughened to soak the end grain as Chair Doctor claims to swell the wood as well as glueing the hole perimeter.

4. Everything should now be tight and twangy, if some spindle joints have failed to fix another tactic can be employed. This involves drilling the tiniest possible hole to allow the glue syringe to get into the blind socket of a joint. This is the reason that I recommend gluing the arch first as this gives it a better chance of achieving a strong joint as it is difficult to conceal a drill hole in the bow of the back. On the other hand a drill hole up through the seat base will not be noticed. If leg joints need drilling, do this from the inside to make holes hard to spot.