Sofa Repair (Teak)

[Chris Padilla]

An acquaintence of mine at work sent me a couple pics of a teak sofa he got from India some years ago. His son has figured out he can swing from the sofa arm.

The pics speak for themselves...I may have others to post later as I ask him more and more questions.

Just thought I'd ping the collective here!

Thanks

[Bob Childress]

Duct tape:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :D :D

[Ian Barley]

Chris

I can confirm that it is indeed broken - I would suggest repairing it.:)

[Bruce Page]

Brads, lotsa brads!


Seriously, I don’t think there is anything he can do that will be cosmetically perfect. I would try to pull the split open and blow some glue in with compressed air, then somehow try to pull it closed – maybe with a strap clamp. I’m not sure that you can use just any glue with teak. Mark Singer would know the answer to that.

[Forrest Price]

:(Bummer. Shy of an intensive repair job, as Bruce suggested get it as open as possible and get some epoxy in there. With a little creative mixing of perhaps gel stain, you might get a not-so-noticeable fix on it.

This could also open up possibilities for an appearance alteration maybe some inlay work on both sides to hide the repairs and add to the style.

Good luck on it!

[Ken Garlock]

Chris, first off, I know there are many very talented creekers. But I suggest that this a problem for a professional furniture restoration shop.

We have my wife's grandmother's rocking chair. When our kids were little, a friend of theirs sat down on one of the arms an split it. After some discussion, we had a restoration shop fix it, and you cannot tell that it was ever broken, no crack visible. They may have replaced the arm, but if they did, it was made to match perfectly with the other arm.

[Corvin Alstot]

Chris/
I read that Mark Singer loves teak, you might drop it off at his house and
see what he says!!! :-)

I vote for the epoxy glue first and see if that will hold, should that fail it will be a fairly invasive repair.

[Vaughn McMillan]

Chris, if it's got high sentimental value, I'd agree with Ken's suggestion for your friend to seek out a restoration shop. If it's just a sofa with no emotional strings attached, I'd try to fix it. I can't tell from the pics if repairs have previously been attempted (not sure if pic #2 shows glue or tape residue). If the're no glue in the joint now, then it'd be relatively easy to glue the pieces back together. Once that's done, it'd be a matter of using filler (I'd use epoxy wood filler) to fill any remaining voids, then a combination of stain and/or Sharpie pens to hide the obvious patches. I've had good success recovering from what seemed to be irreparable damage. These pics show what I mean:

Before:
http://workingwoods.com/workingwoods/Boxes/Chunk2%20600.jpg

After:
http://workingwoods.com/workingwoods/Boxes/Chunk4%20600.jpg

Personally, I'd go for doing the repair myself.

- Vaughn

[Mark Singer]

Chris,
Everyone thinks I know the answer to this one? I would clean all the glue out and get back to wood. Then rout a spline perpendicular to the fracture. I would make a saddle jig to guide the router ...use a template bushing. Insert a piece of Teak with the long grain....use West Systems or another good epoxy. Leave the spline "proud " of the surface and sand or rasp it flush with care. Go finer and finish with Bartleys Gel Varnish....3 coats to match...I still hate teak:rolleyes:

[David Rose]

Mark is right... again! :rolleyes: Then maybe a paddle that fits the son's back pockets.?

David


Chris,
Everyone thinks I know the answer to this one? I would clean all the glue out and get back to wood. Then rout a spline perpendicular to the fracture. I would make a saddle jig to guide the router ...use a template bushing. Insert a piece of Teak with the long grain....use West Systems or another good epoxy. Leave the spline "proud " of the surface and sand or rasp it fluch with care. Go finer and finish with Bartleys Gel Varnish....3 coats to match...I still hate teak:rolleyes:

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

I like Mark's solution except for the following: The adjascent joint looks like a M&T, it is very close to any spline joinery you might end up doing, and that particular part of the arm looks to be a high stress area.

From the piks it appears to be an old lap joint that failed but not at the joint rather on the adjascent material.

Is it at all possible to replace the broken arm? Take the arm off the couch, clean up the lap joint area, and install a new one?

[Chris Padilla]

Thanks, Everyone. The guy tried to use Liquid Nails to repair the joint! :eek: You know, just spooged it in there and pushed it back together (apparently, you can push the joint closed). He said it came apart the next day! :rolleyes:

I told him most likely that he shoud take it to a pro and so I've tasked myself with all my connections in the ww'ing industry to trying to find someone up to snuff for him.

So anyone in the San Francisco Bay Area that knows someone who can make a good invisible repair on this, please let me know!

I'm sure I could tackle this but I don't have any time for such endeavours but I think it would be a good challenge and fun to try.

[Bruce Page]

Liquid Nails!:eek: :eek:!
Unbelievable.
He will undoubtedly need to take it to a professional now. I suspect that he will pay a higher price for that brain fart!

[Chris Padilla]

Yep, good old LN! I told him he probably made things worse with the failed attempt at repair! Live and learn, live and learn.

[John Kain]

Liquid Nails!:eek: :eek:!
Unbelievable.
He will undoubtedly need to take it to a professional now. I suspect that he will pay a higher price for that brain fart!

Cmon, give the guy a break huh?

I would think we are after helpful responses in this forum.............:(

[Bruce Page]

Cmon, give the guy a break huh?

I would think we are after helpful responses in this forum.............:(
Excuse me for saying what a lot of people were thinking. My constructive post was post #4 – the first constructive post in the thread. Chris, I meant do disrespect towards your friend.