Help with mirrors

[Terry Stapleton]

I am refinishing a bedroom suit. When I removed the mirrors from their frames, I noticed that they had been held in place by small, triangular blocks of wood that were attached to the frames. They seemed to have been glued, yet they popped off easily. It's now time to reassemble them. Anybody know what I should use to attach the blocks?

[Bruce Page]

Terry, I would clean the old glue off the triangles & frame with a razor blade or sandpaper and epoxy them back in place. the 5 minuet stuff should work fine.

[Terry Stapleton]

But I thought the reason they came off so easily was so that you could replace the mirrors if they broke. That's what made me think there was a trick to be learned. On the other hand, maybe the glue was just old and brittle and didn't have much bite anymore.

[Bruce Page]

Terry, old glue can dry out and become brittle, particularly if the joint/fit wasn’t very good to begin with. If you can clean up the joint well enough and still get a good fit, then a yellow wood glue like Tite Bond would be the way to go.

[Don Henthorn Smithville, TX]

Terry. I would be willing to bet that the blocks were held on with hide glue and that is the glue I would use to reglue them. Hide glue is reversible so that the mirrors can be removed if necessary in the future.

[John Lucas]

I suggest you go to a glass place and get a tube of the adhesive they use. You doi not want to ruin the silvering or protective paint with an adhesive that is not recommended.