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Hander Woodworking and its logo are registered trademarks of Hander Woodworking
Hander Woodworking and its logo are registered trademarks of Hander Woodworking
This set of three conserved Victorian, rosewood chairs was brought into Hander Woodworking very wobbly and in need of extensive wood repair as seen in the pictures below. Rosewood is a very dense wood but oily, brittle and difficult to glue so the integrity of a piece relies greatly upon the quality of its joints. The chair tops were originally attached to the back legs using sliding dovetails and glue. Unfortunately on most of the joints wood was broken and missing on both the legs and backs rendering the original dovetail joints useless. Through the years screws were added as an ad hoc method of holding them together.
The broken areas were hand sawn and chiseled to receive new rosewood. The wood was prepared with acetone to remove the surface oil prior to gluing. Under virtually all circumstances Hander Woodworking uses hide glue in a conservation but with these chairs they used a polyurethane glue which provides superior adhesion on oily wood and is still easily reversible. Screws were removed and rosewood plugs glued in their place. Below is the completed repair to the above picture on the right.