regluing old joints

[steve banks]

I have a beautiful original wooden toilet water closet I would like to use in a bathroom I'm doing. The construction of the closet consists of vertical tongue and groove oak slats (flat sawn) glued together. Some of the joints over the years have separated but no more than 1/8". Is it possible to reglue and clamp these joints back together? Any suggestions are appreciated.

[Kevin Gerstenecker]

Without loooking at it, I think it is probably repairable. If possible, disassemble it, clean the old glue from the mating surfaces, reglue and clamp 'er up. If not possible to disassemble, it is possible to syringe glue into the failed areas, and clamp it up to draw it back together. Does it appear that it has shrunk, or just come loose at the glue joints? That would be a determining factor in the effect of the repair. But from what it sounds like, it should be a pretty straightforward process. Good luck with it!

[Steve Clardy]

you can joint all the edges and get some fresh meat for reglues.
But in your case, the panels would end up too narrow to go back together as it was. Unless you can modify it to fit back together, go with Kevins suggestions.