How best to glue up separated joints in old chest of drawers

[Mike Henderson]

If you're getting loose joints, mix sawdust in the glue and see if that helps.

If there was some reason I couldn't make a tight fitting joint, I'd use epoxy. Epoxy is gap filling and can produce an acceptable joint when the joint is not tight. But a stronger joint will result from a good tight fitting joint to begin with.

Mike

[Jim Matthews]

Consider Andrew's recommendation.

If you disassemble the carcass, do one "face" at a time. Start at the back where the first attempts won't show. Don't apply glue to the panels lest seasonal expansion break the joints.

It's a nice looking piece, worthy of some effort.
The lumber alone would be many 100s of dollars.
*****

I would knock it apart and replace all the tenons with "floating" tenons. This would be a repeatable task suited to a power router.

http://woodarchivist.com/wp-content/...-Joinery-1.jpg

[Rob Luter]

Watch a few resoration vids from Thomas Johnson: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd8...P9_wuSOr_xk_eA

This guy has some serious game. I'm guessing he'd add loose tenons or a dowel to supplement the joints. I'll concur that to do this right you'll need to take the case apart and scrape the old glue off.

[Thomas McCurnin]

That dresser is a bit of a mess, lots of failed joints and the caulking didn't help matters at all.

On the one hand, it looks like with all the failed joints, it ought to be pretty easy to disassemble that rascal using pipe clamps with reversed heads, so they apply pressure outwards. Take your time, apply some heat and/or steam. I might take a week to disassemble the dresser. Mark the pieces with tape or a sharpie on inconspicuous locations with arrows, numbers, etc. Scrape everything down and reassemble with PVA glue or epoxy.

On the other hand, and this what I initially thought, if the joints are loose and move back together with clamps, I would be tempted to apply epoxy with a syringe and small brushes and re-clamp the thing. If its just a stupid dresser and not an heirloom, I might try this. Lipstick on a pig. But if this is a treasured heirloom, then disassemble, and do it right.

[Bill Yacey]

Do not used prepared hide glue. It has additives to keep it liquid at room temperature that makes it hygroscopic as time passes. Eventually it will absorb humidity and fall apart.

Prepare your own hide glue from granules and do not heat past 150F, as it will weaken the glue. The viscosity will be right when a continuous stream runs of the brush when lifted from the glue in the pot. If it drips in separate droplets, it's too thin.

Use a hair drier to preheat the wood of the pieces to be glued just before applying the hide glue. This helps to prevent it from gelling while clamping up the joint.