Crack in oak rocking chair

[Eric Mims]

I have a very old rocking chair with a couple of cracks. I do not have access to any type of woodshop or tools right now :(. I do have plenty of access to epoxies though. Would my best bet to be forcing some epoxy in the cracks? I have some syringes, but they might be too small of a gauge, I haven't tested yet. If I use epoxy, can you thin it with acetone, etc and still retain proper wood gluing strength? The cracks are quite thin, so is it best to force a clamp onto it while curing, or just let it gap-fill?

Or can CA be used instead of epoxy?

Thanks!

Eric
279701279702

[Bruce Volden]

Eric,

If it were me I would use CA. Bear in mind that CA can be had in different viscosities ranging from 5 (very thin) to 100 being quite thick. The thin stuff will wick into the cracks deeper and you may have to "build" up from that point to get a total fill.
Search for Ca glues and you will find many mfgrs. I have been buying from Palm Labs Adhesives for many years and am pleased with their product, but my guess is they're pretty much all the same.

Bruce

[Pat Barry]

The crack in the photo at left looks to be very repairable with standard wood glue. I would wedge it open a tiny bit, then work the wood glue into it until it comes thru the other side, then clamp it up, wipe away the excess and let er cure. The second picture is no concern - I would not even try to do anything with it.