Advice on how to strengthen table repairs

[robjh]

Hi all - I've just joined this forum seeking some advice.

My girlfriend had an antique table sent over to us in Germany and it wasn't packaged properly. Needless to say it arrived in several pieces. It was a gift from her dad so I'm doing my best at repairing it with wood glue. I wanted to know if there's a way to strengthen the repairs?

I'm a computer programmer so I really am out of my depth here. I've checked the internet but don't see advice on repairing something like this with no luck.

I've managed to glue on the 4 main legs. There's a tray at the bottom which I'm in the middle of gluing back in also. It appears double ended screws were used here.

Any advice appreciated. I attached some pics.

Thanks

Rob

 

[Myfordman]

Joining freshly broken wood to wood with PVA wood glue will be nominally stronger than the wood itself. Don't clamp it so tight that all the glue is squeezed out.
Re-glueing already glued joints will be very weak. Try and file off as much old glue from both surfaces trying not to make the joint too loose.

 

[ED65]

Good news first, that's not an antique. Might not even be truly classed as vintage.

With a bit of luck you can repair something like this just with PVA. Fresh clean breaks in wood can glue extremely well if there is no splintering preventing the parts from coming together neatly.

For best strength you do want to clamp hard, below what will dent the wood but hard enough that you squeeze out all the excess glue.

 

[Jacob]

Yes it looks like modern cheapo furniture.
This won't help but I've noticed over the years a lot of repairs to old furniture - usually chairs - where there has been a carefully shaped and formed metal plate, blacksmith done, making a very discrete surgical repair. The main detail being to feather the edges so that it merges in inconspicuously, and short fat screws.
Just thought I'd mention it!

 

[robjh]

Thanks for the advice. If PVA is good enough then I'll glue it and that'll be it. The breaks were all fresh from the journey so the glue I applied was onto the wood.

Thanks.