Old country dry sink door needs repair

[whit richardson]

I'm wondering what you folks might think would be the best way to repair this split stile? It's oak of course and pretty old. Also should I used hide glue or regular white or yellow glue? The other side stile is showing signs of splits coming but once I refinish the whole thing nobody will be stressing this door.

Pictures and pictures.

[John Keeton]

Whit, before I considered a repair, I would remove all the old finish by whatever means you choose. There may be other repairs needed as well. On this particular one, it appears from the pics to be an old split.

As such, it will likely have dirt, grime, and possibly some finish or glue in it from prior efforts to glue, or prior coats of finish that seeped in. It is difficult to get a good bond in those situations. I like Titebond III, but I think the integrity of the joint is going to more problematic than the choice of glue. It is hard to tell from the pics, but I would try to open the break up as much as possible, and get it as clean as possible before trying to glue it.

[whit richardson]

Well the good news is that someone my country in-laws family fixed this by screwing a piece of hardboard into the rails and stiles of that end and never tried to glue it. I peeked as best I could. As for the finish it actually looks better than pictured. I'm trying to keep the finish intact for my wife's sake, memories and such. it looks like I'll have to redo the groove so I was thinking glue a piece of oak into the groove and re-cut the groove to fit snugly.

I was thinking of using small hardwood wedges to open it for cleaning and the glue and clamp.

[John Keeton]

Whit, sorry on not understanding. When you said "but once I refinish the whole thing" I thought you were going to strip the finish.

Without seeing the situation live, it is hard to help. I am not sure what would be accomplished by gluing stock in the groove, and then recutting the groove, but I suspect I am missing something.

[Frank Drew]

John,

I'm not Whit, but perhaps he's worried that even after any repairs, the stile's groove will still be too loose for those stub tenons.

Frankly, I'm surprised that doors made that way last any time at all; once the glue dries out and shrinks there's no mechanical strength in those joints. [Stub tenons in through grooves! OMG :eek:!]

I'd want to make any repair I did on that particular door the last one I ever did, so I'd probably use epoxy, which is strong and, more importantly, has good gap filling properties.

[whit richardson]

Frank you got it. Those joints could be pulled apart by my granddaughter bare handed. This is a old dry sink made somewhere around 1870 - 1890's. I date it there because the drawer is made using pin and cove joints which my research shows were used in production furniture around that time frame and then it fell out of fashion or use. It's nice oak and some parts are QSO but it's far from fine craftsmanship. Still it's a family piece with memories for my wife so I want to make it look good again, why I'm trying to restore what finish there is left.

I'm not sure I could make the groove hold on the stub tenons and some whiz tried gluing the panel itself into the groove too. I was even thinking of maybe pegging them. Next I have draw runners to replace , one side panel that needs coaxing back into it's stiles and bleaching the top that has two big ugly black rings from (assuming) plant pots left on it. Ahhh projects.