Time Tested Furniture Repair Techniques- Online Article
There are a lot of books out there that show you how to repair furniture. Tons of them, in fact. Most of them are very good, with instructions on how to repair well-made furniture built largely from solids, and give advice on white rings, iron stains and loose joints. But how does this help us, in an industry dominated by imports built from particleboard and resin? Repairing these products requires a special way of thinking, and for the first time, I’m laying out several of my proven techniques. They may sound easier than they really are, and in some cases they are easy, but as the saying goes, practice makes perfect.
Let’s discuss how furniture is made today. Solids are virtually a thing of the past, with the possible exception being trim pieces like crowns and base mouldings. Panels are made by laminating both sides of a piece of MDF (medium-density fiberboard) or particleboard with veneer: Nice wood on one side, cheap on the other. Obviously, the cheap side faces the interior of the cabinet. (Open pieces like wall units and armoires have nice wood on the inside as well.) This may sound like a cheap way to make wood panels, but the fact is, this system produces an inexpensive, strong working material that won’t cup, warp or split like solid wood. It also allows the manufacturer to carefully choose how the finished product will look, permitting inlays and designs.
Particleboard is made of sawdust and glue. Intact, it is strong and durable. Crushed or broken, it is like coffee grounds. For example, break a piece of cherry in half and try to flake away the split ends: You can’t. Real wood is held together by very strong carbon bonds. These bonds account for the loud noise heard when wood is broken into two pieces. Particleboard is strong on its surfaces, but once snapped or crushed, it is very easy to get the particles to come loose. Even blowing compressed air on the rough ends can loosen the individual sawdust particles, making repair very challenging.
Trim pieces are typically solid wood, but many manufacturers are discovering that they can save a lot of money by making these parts from resin or polymers like plastic. For example, consider what it takes to make trim. First, the wood must be rough milled, then finish milled. A shaper, which is a very expensive machine fitted with custom-made blades assembled in a stack, must be used to rout the trim (the finished shape is called a profile). The blades must be sharpened frequently, especially when milling hardwoods, or the trim will be rough and the machine may kick back, causing depressions in the wood. But casting with resins, however, is virtually flawless. The resin is poured into a mold and crudely reinforced (if you’re lucky) with fiberglass. Some trim is extruded, much like making pasta. Sections are simply cut off and finished. The molds are elaborate, too, etched to simulate wood grain and even knots.
So how are you supposed to fix this stuff? Here are some techniques that I use on a daily basis to restore damaged furniture back to first quality. You’ll be very surprised to learn that the primary repair material is cyanoacrylate (CA) glue, also called superglue or hot glue. Don’t confuse “hot glue” with hot-melt glue: CA glue is called hot because it becomes very hot when it cures out. Always use activator with CA glue because it speeds up the set time dramatically, but be careful, if you’re spraying it near a finish, use the pump-type and not the aerosol-type.
source: http://www.azcentral.com
