How To Repair That Wobbly Stool
Repairing a Wobbly Bar Stool
“Stop leaning back”
I never thought I’d be echoing my parents words but I do.
I have LEAN-ers….. My kids love to lean back when sitting on the counter stools, and house chairs.
Not only is it dangerous, it drive me crazy because the pressure on the rear legs always weakened the frame joints.
Repairing A Loose Stool Leg
This stool was so bad that I needed to do something about it. As you can see from the picture two of the stretchers had separated from their mortise joint.
Open And Clean The Joint
I used a bar clamp to spread the stretchers further apart exposing the tenon and mortise.
Once the tenon was exposed I lightly sanded it to roughen up the surface for the new glue.
Add Glue
I used a small brush to dampen both surfaces. The moisture helps the glue cure faster.
I used a polyurethane glue called, Gorilla Glue.
This solvent-free polyurethane glue is best on wood (sands well), but it’s not as specific as most wood adhesives. It bonds pretty well on metals, stone, ceramics, and many plastics.
Applying the glue with a brush. The brush ensures equal coverage inside the mortise.
Clamp Legs Together
Pushed together with hand pressure. The glue foams up and expands as it dries. A little bit goes a long way and you don’t need to spread it around so much.
Two clamps hold the stretchers in place while the glue dries. If you glue infrequently, it is nice that Gorilla Glue has a long shelf life — three years as opposed to one, as with many other polyurethane glues.
Clean Joint
Foaming can be seen in this photo. I wipe the foam clean with some solvent [paint thinner works] and then come back later and clean up any additional foam with a small sharp chisel.
No more Leaning!
~ a concord carpenter
