I need some advice on an historic M&T repair. I have a pair of 1840s twin beds in my son’s bedroom. The one he doesn’t sleep on has a loose mortise and tenon on the frame. It’s the rear lower rail on the right. The turned foot rail above is still solidly glued. The back end of the bed is attached to the side rails via rail bolts so I can remove it and take it down into the basement shop if necessary. I can get about 1/8” of separation in the joint right now and I’m guessing I could at least double that if I remove the rear of the frame from the rails. Given the date of these beds, this obviously must be hide glue. But you can see there is some discoloration on the wood around that joint (greatly exaggerated by the lighting) and I’m unsure if this was from a repair or just from trying to clean a stain. If it was a repair, I don’t know when, only that it would have had to have been prior to 1970 if it happened at all. To be honest I think this joint has been loose since as early as then because I remember my bed always being a little more wobbly than my sister’s (not doubt this wasn’t helped by all the jumping I did on it either!) I have both hot hide glue and liquid (titebond) as options. how do I go about this?
Can I somehow get the glue in there without undoing the footrail M&T? I did an experiment undoing a joint I made (just two blocks glued together) using heat and water/steam. It was not as easy as people who write articles make it seem. I am also very fearful of damaging the wood with the steam. I believe this is mahogany (not very good at wood identification so feel free to correct me) and I have no idea the finish, but should I have to fix a bunch of raised grain and damaged finish I’m afraid of the color underneath all the aging. I’ve also read that you can “shock” a hide glue joint loose with a sharp whack, although this sounds overly optimistic to me. I have read that you can dribble the glue into an open joint and work the joint back and forth to kind of spread it around in there without total disassembly, but I’m not sure if this is one of those “only if you have a lot of skill and practice” kind of things – although if that failed to hold I would be right back where I started with no damage. And if I am able to dribble in glue, would it be better to make hot hide glue and add salt so I have plenty of time to dribble it in there, or should I just go with the liquid stuff? I find the liquid stuff not all that runny (kind of like fake maple syrup, as opposed to hot which is like real maple syrup).
Thoughts? Advice?
Pic of the frame. Lose joint is lower right.
bed 1.jpg
Close up of the joint. The discoloration is greatly exaggerated by the light I used. In fact, I never noticed it until right now.
bed 2 closed.jpg
Forcing it open 1/8". I'm restricted by the side rail and also the floor. If I remove this section of the frame, I'm pretty positive I could get at least a 1/4" or more.
bed 3 open.jpg