Ideas on how to fix a broken Maloof style chair?

[Scott Duncan]

I have been tagged to repair a Maloof style chair that was built years ago by an unknown local woodworker and donated to my son’s elementary school. It is split near on of the joints as shown in the photo. It is a beautiful light-weight piece.

It’s a nice clean break so I am thinking I will just glue and clamp with Titebond 3. I’m thinking the repair should be stronger then original wood. Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks,
-Scott

[Brian Penning]

I have been tagged to repair a Maloof style chair that was built years ago by an unknown local woodworker and donated to my son’s elementary school. It is split near on of the joints as shown in the photo. It is a beautiful light-weight piece.

It’s a nice clean break so I am thinking I will just glue and clamp with Titebond 3. I’m thinking the repair should be stronger then original wood. Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks,
-Scott

That's what I would do.
In addition you might want to consider drilling out the plugs and putting in longer screws. Especially if it's a chair that gets a lot of use.
Wouldn't mind seeing a pic of the complete chair.

[Scott Duncan]

Here are some photos of it - I am amazed how light it is - 9 pounds.

[Richard Dragin]

I'm with Brian, glue and screw. The seat is really thin, nice chair but obviously it needed a thicker seat.

[Brian Kent]

Can you see the screws in the crack?

See if it was originally assembled in Maloof style, with plugs over screws.

I agree with drilling out the plugs, putting in new screws, glueing and clamping, and re-plugging.

Concern: If the screws were epoxied into place, it could be difficult to remove the one ones. Hopefully they can be unscrewed.

[John Harden]

I agree with the other fellows. I'd glue it back together. It should hold just fine.

With the orientation of the grain in the seat, the builder should have used screws to reinforce the joint versus a glued in dowel. You might check to see if this is what he did. If you don't see a screw, you might consider drilling out the plugs and inserting a screw, or the joing might fail again.

Problem with this approach is you then need to re-plug the holes and finish the plug heads. Could be tricky to match the finish, though it shouldn't matter much as it will be end grain.

Regards,

John

[Cody Colston]

I would just glue and clamp the broken area. Longer screws may help that one joint but the others likely are built identical to the broken one. Trying to match the finish (or even the wood) would probably be more difficult than repairing the joint if you drill out the plugs.

[Brian Kent]

A blending of ideas that would preserve the finish and the plugs.

In a recent thread on epoxies, West System Epoxy came up a lot as an extremely strong, thin epoxy that will seep into cracks, holes and grain. The repair kit comes with a syringe.

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/producte/10001/-1/10001/28492/377%20710/0/epoxy%20repair/Primary%20Search/mode%20matchallpartial/0/0?N=377%20710&Ne=0&Ntt=epoxy%20repair&Ntk=Primary%20Search&Ntx=mode%20matchallpartial&Nao=0&Ns=0&keyword=epoxy%20repair&isLTokenURL=true&storeNum=95&subdeptNum=674&classNum=674

The thin epoxy could be directed into the screw holes, then cover the wood of the joint. Clamping could then not only glue the wood together, but also anchor the original screw in place.

[Scott Duncan]

I glued and clamped it with Titebond 3 and it feels like it will work. I could see the screws sticking out about 1/8 beyond the crack and left them alone. I’ll give it back and if it splits again in the same area I will try the longer screw approach perhaps with epoxy. I hope to avoid messing with the plugs and trying to match the finish if possible.

-Scott

[Prashun Patel]

I glued and clamped it with Titebond 3 and it feels like it will work. I could see the screws sticking out about 1/8 beyond the crack and left them alone. -Scott

You're the expert, but the shallow screws seems to be the reason the problem happened in the 1st place. Are you fearful it'll eventually repeat?

[Scott Duncan]

I'm not an expert - just trying the easiest thing first..:) If it splits again I will go with the longer screws and epoxy. The chair starts to get pretty thin after the split - not much thicker than 1/2 inch. I think the builder was maybe pushing the envelope on this design. The Maloof style chairs I have seen are usually a little thicker that this.

Thanks,
-Scott

[John Harden]

I don't think the screws were the problem. It didn't split at the joint. The failure was right along the grain in the seat. With the orientation of the grain, the screws are really there to hold it together while the glue dries. The structural integrity comes from the glue and the grain of the wood.

Chances are that this will hold. Longer scres might help some, but if the seat is very thin where it meets the leg, not much will save it from an environment where there are kids jumping and playing on it.

Very nice crafstmanship. I like his take on the Maloof dinng chair.

Regards,

John