by ToneWood » Sun Jun 16, 2013 7:17 pm
Yes, white wood glue/PVA is water soluble, even after it has set. I was surprised when I read that but decided to reverse a glue repair this week and, sure enough, the glue softens and can be cleaned out - I used hot water. I might not have used it had I known before hand - but am now glad that I did, it is a very useful characteristic. [BTW does yellow wood glue dry yellow/look better than white when dry? White glue dries clear but that can make it look black - probably best to add some clean, matching saw dust/shavings.]
I bought a nice but damaged Windsor chain at a garage sale in America many years ago. I think one of the arm supports had broken near the end (it was a long time ago). Sadly I didn't realize that it could be repaired without replacing the part, so just used it as computer chair as it was. I probably re-sold it in a garage sale when I moved. Years later I watched one of those TV antiques shows in the UK and the dealer bought a broken old Windsor chair - one of the horizontal stays between the legs had broken near the end (similar break to mine). He took it to a repairer who fixed it quickly for £15. I don't recall exactly how it was repaired but he replaced the end of the existing stay with a piece of dowel, probably glued to the end (and possibly screwed in too?). Sounds bodged but looked fine & was strong. I was kicking myself when I saw how simply and quickly he repaired it! Had I kept it, I would have been able to carve some sort of replacement now - or perhaps asked one of the forum's turners to make a proper replace me.
That's a really nice, crisp turned pattern on the leg. Apparently all modern wood glues are stronger than the wood itself (read an article this week by somebody who broke more than 300 test joints while finding this out!) - but I don't know if I would trust it in such a critical, weight-bearing piece of the chairs structure but I might try it, before dismantling the whole chair.
BTW if you have a grungy old Windsor chair - suggest that you don't clean the patina off or you might loose most of its value and character.
Last edited by
ToneWood on Thu Jun 20, 2013 1:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.