Childs chair restoration

[whatknot]

Hi all

My sister was a headmistress, the last one for the school I and siblings attended when small, many moons ago

When it closed she gave me two small chairs which have lived in storage for many years and sadly one has sprung the top rail

Its just guesswork on my part but would I need to soak the rail to bring it back to a U shape ?

If not any advice on how to do it please

 

[dzj]

Steam bending around a form is the only thing that comes to mind.
Perhaps by using long plastic bags instead of a steam box.

 

[whatknot]

Thanks for that input much appreciated

I hadn't thought of steam

As this is at least 60+ years old and probably more, it makes me wonder how it was done in the first place, I have seen similar types of formed rail on furniture much older than that

Steam bending around a form is the only thing that comes to mind.
Perhaps by using long plastic bags instead of a steam box.

 

[MattRoberts]

I saw a video of someone doing something similar the other day.

What they did was wrap the wood in a towel and then pour boiling water on it. They then wrapped the towel in plastic to keep the steam in.

After 10 mins they opened it up slightly and repeated with some more boiling water, and wrapped it up again. 10 mins later, it was ready to go.

Obviously the amount of times you need to do it and the length of time depends on the wood and thickness. Might be worth a go though.

 

[whatknot]

Thank you

Sounds worth a go

Did they form it before then do the boiling water treatment or after?

Looks like I have a date with you tube later ;-)

(actually just watched a few and steam seems to be the way it was done and still is)

At least the one I have is preformed so may not take as much bending as from straight

I saw a video of someone doing something similar the other day.

What they did was wrap the wood in a towel and then pour boiling water on it. They then wrapped the towel in plastic to keep the steam in.

After 10 mins they opened it up slightly and repeated with some more boiling water, and wrapped it up again. 10 mins later, it was ready to go.

Obviously the amount of times you need to do it and the length of time depends on the wood and thickness. Might be worth a go though.

 

[Blockplane]

Probably worth making a former to clamp it to , especially given the need to keep it flat in the other plane.

From my (extremely limited) experience of steam bending, you will need to 'over bend' to allow for some degree of straightening after it cools.

 

[custard]

Before you go to all that trouble just try slowly bending the arm back into place and seeing if the uprights will locate back into their respective mortice holes. My guess is it's just the glue that's failed and allowed the arm to spring out. If you can do that then it's simply a matter of cleaning out the old glue and re-gluing, holding the arm in place while the glue dries with string in the manner of a "Spanish Windlass", or with a sash cramp across the ends.

 

[MattRoberts]

They steamed first and then bent to shape. Custard is right though - check if it will bend naturally first!

 

[whatknot]

Thanks both, I have tried hand bending but its just to sprung if you know what I mean

They were stored in a garage for about ten years, there was no heating and in the winter it can get very damp in the air down here and think thats what the problem was

I will try again by gently bending and holding in position and see how it goes now I am a little more aware

 

[deema]

If you can get it to bend back to place, try and over bend it slightly and then fix it with a Spanish windless as Custard suggests. You then need to leave it for a few weeks preferably in a very dry environment. It will hopefully take a new set. When you remove the clamp it will spring back a little, hence the need to over bend.