Why Repair, Replace, or Trash Broken Wood - Furniture Restoration Techniques | How To

It can be difficult to understand if broken wood should be repaired, replaced, or if the whole piece of furniture should be thrown in the trash. I demonstrate how to use judgement to decide how strong a broken piece of wood will be after a repair. It depends on how the wood is broken, what it's used for in the furniture, and what type of glue you will use.

I show four examples of broken pieces of furniture to repair:
A broken chair back that I thought I would replace, but I ended up repairing the break
A broken chair leg that can't be repaired, so the chair is trash
A broken chair leg with the wood splintered off, which I glued together
A broken chair leg with wood missing, where I patched in a new piece of wood

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VIDEO TOPICS:
00:00 Why Repair, Replace, or Trash Broken Wood - Furniture Restoration Techniques
00:46 Way to repair broken chair back
04:50 How to glue split wood
06:41 Using epoxy to repair broken wood
11:06 Why a chair leg can't be repaired and will be thrown out in the trash
15:56 Can you identify this wood species?
17:42 How to reinforce broken wood with a spline
20:26 How to repair broken chair legs with insert nuts
21:38 How to patch in a new piece of wood
28:16 How to trim patched wood to match the existing profile
31:23 How to install insert nuts
32:19 How to trim and finish reinforcing spline repair
36:07 Using burn-in wood filler
36:45 Review of finished repairs

#Repair #Restoration #Wood

[cobberpete]

Rubberwood is a light-colored medium-density tropical hardwood obtained from the Pará rubber tree, usually from trees grown in rubber plantations. Rubberwood is commonly advertised as an "environmentally friendly" wood, as it makes use of plantation trees that have already served a useful function.

[levstein]

This video came at a most opportune moment. My next door neighbor knows I do woodworking as a hobby, and asked if I could fix a chair which had some damage to one leg. Using the very techniques you presented today, I was able to take the chair apart so I could access the damaged leg and surrounding area, and then put together a plan of action to make a repair. I feel fully confident that I can return the chair to him in a day or so fully mended and as good as new! Thanks!

[byhammerandhand]

Great video, Scott.

As someone who's recently retired from furniture repair my wife just asked if I had learned anything or reinforced what I knew. My answer was yes. Almost all my work was both on-site and fixed price by third party (e.g., warranty or protection plans), so taking to the shop and using the table saw was not a practical option for me. I have repaired a lot of legs where the threaded insert broke out the inside corner of the leg, though almost always on tables. I found that these legs were several inches square and the threaded insert only went in half an inch or so, the depth of the threaded insert. My usual repair was to glue the chunk back on and secure with a screw (as there was plenty of room on a table leg). The connector bolts and the pilot holes for the threaded inserts were almost always long enough that I could put the threaded insert in much deeper, into the unbroken wood and reattach. I would have to use a threaded insert without a shoulder on it, though, unlike the ones in your chair. Now, I do volunteer work at a place that outfits furniture to people coming out of homelessness, so I'm still seeing donated furniture that needs repair, when possible. "Plus ça change, plus la même chose"

As far as wood id, I'd refer to that as "wood that should have been thrown in the scrap bin." I encountered a lot of brash and cross grain wood, but that seemed to be typical for Asian furniture, even the expensive stuff. I think my worst example was a top rail in a sofa. Right in the middle was a punky knot that was most of the width of the beam. It did not take much force to get it to snap. Why did they even think to put that in a piece?? Upholstered furniture, too, has a lot of OSB or particle board stapled together inside. And if 4 staples is good, 12 is more good, even if half of them miss the underlying piece :-) That's what you get when you get "Seven piece living room set only $399!"

[JMRRead]

Excellent work and always informative. Thanks for sharing!

[petekelly]

Hi Scott, Firstly, thanks for the great videos - I enjoy watching them all and often learn a few things from them - even the ones that are beyond my skill set. However, I identified that wood as a different wood than your other watchers. It looked like Paulownia which is often used in Vietnamese made furniture as it is a very rapidly growing plantation tree. But what clinched it for me was when you sanded it and remarked how rough it felt. Paulownia is very often large pored and can be a beast to sand smooth. We get a ton of Paulownia furniture here in Australia - and it often breaks.

[andrietsa]

I'm am always on the lookout for broken furniture. Usually I pick things up from the street, when people take their broken stuff to be picked up.
So far I have saved two chairs and a dinning table.
Often I could see that the previous owners had tried to fix the furniture but not with the right technique. The most common mistake is a simple one: glueing without pressure (lack of clamps or a vise I guess).

Thanks a lot for all your videos!
Greetings from Switzerland

[Beatricepoppy]

Love your videos. Try removing the stoppers from the small syringes to fill them with water before removing the glue by expressing the water. Works for me.

[JamesDeese]

I feel like I am in shop class with Mr. Woods again. He was a genius. He gave me a lifelong love for woodworking and tinkering.

[sylviekoenig]

Tricky repairs… Thanks for everything you teach. It is useful, very interesting and your voice and manners are relaxing!

[marcoscamposdemoraeslima]

Good Night, My Friend
Your work, is wonderful.
The chair is better than before.
The wood was completely broke.
And you, transform on a most new.
Congratulations!!!
Marcos Campos
Rio de Janeiro
Brasil

[lanecobb]

Scott, I’m surprised at the strong mixed reaction I had to this video. In the end those chairs are a classic example of you get what you pay for. Inappropriately designed joints made of weak inferior wood can’t help but result in the damage you dealt with. I’m afraid I would have relegated them all to the burn pile.

[Granddad]

Great work on the repairs. I truly appreciate your videos where you share your techniques and talents. Do you ever get dissatisfied customers that come back on you when/if their inexpensive furniture fails again?

[jeffhodges]

Mr. Rassler is correct. The wood based on one of the close-ups you showed looks like parawood. These are old rubber trees that are past producing.

[berryconway]

Great presentation. Having the different examples sure helped. And your camera work is improving. Thanks!

[Matt_bechillin]

Amazing video,
For my syringes i draw through some alcohol or acetone to clear some glue out, then I draw water to rinse, and let it dry. It seems to last an extremely long time, I’ve actually never replaced tip.
Now you’ve given me 9999 tips and I’ve given you 1😅

[tombaker]

Very informative video on repair considerations and methods. Thanks for posting.

[mariushegli]

I feel like I learn something new from every single video you post. Loving it!

[michaelfling]

Nicely executed Scott. I was thinking Acacia wood, but its somewhat darker than your chair part. Since we mostly get antique furniture in for repairs, we don't see a lot of the newer furniture, but the Asian stuff seems to be more brittle than our American hardwoods.

[coreygrua]

Very, very useful and practical as well. Patient explanations. I’m working on a similar break so this is particularly timely.

[CARLOSTREUIL]

I enjoyed your video. One thing I noticed when repairing furniture is that improper installation of insert nut can actually cause a wood failure. The hole for the insert nut needs to be deeper than the crib screw will be in full compression. If the screw bottoms out in the hole while tightening the chair leg it will force the insert to break out of the wood. Solutions for this are two fold. You can drill the insert hole deeper or you can cut the crib screw shorter. Both will allow you to secure the leg without breaking the brittle chair wood.