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Gorilla or Carpenter Glue?

markshan said:
...or even perhaps some other adhesive.

My dining room chairs are coming apart. The picture below shows some joints which have one rectangular dowel type joint rather than two small round dowels. My first notion was carpenters glue and clamps. But then I thought about how Gorilla Glue (which I don't really enjoy working with) swells as it sets. I wondered if it would do a better job of completely filling the gap, leading to a stronger joint. I also wondered if it was possible that it would swell so much as to crack the wood around the female end of the joint.

Some of the joints are only partially separated. For those, I had planned to use carpenter glue painted down into the gaps to the best of my ability and clamped. Would it be helpful to thin the carpenter glue for this?

TIA.
Click to expand...

Make sure to clean the both the mortise and the tennon to remove any of the old hide glue that was used before you apply any other glue. This is done with denatured alcohol and scraping. It crystalizes the old hide glue.

Both glues will work, but the joints need to fit snuggly, but not tight. If you use the eurethane glue- your clamping has to be sound or it will expand apart and fail again. The white gule is okay, and a little forgiving about clamping pressures- but the dried glue will not retain applied finishes. DO NOT THIN white glue (PVA) or carpenters glue (PVA with aliphatic resin).

If thing are not snug, there is a product which resembles a cheese grater in small strips- these are to go between the mortise and tennon to occupy space and lock into place. These will work best with eurethane glue.
 
>drill from the opposite side, countersink and run three inch drywall screws into them

This is the final solution from experience. If it got loose with glue once, it will get loose again.
 
I know it seems too good to be true, but that Wonderlok 'Em glue has been holding tight as new for several years and my kids lean back on our chairs daily :nono:

If they loosen again, I'll just glue them again in a matter of minutes.
 
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