Has anyone out there got any advice on repair of bentwood furniture. I have a commission for the restoration and recaning of a Thonet style rocking chair. Recaning - no problem, but break/splitting on the back frame is horrendous. Also, the minor 'fraying' in many places is a consideration. On the very minor bits, I feel that just sanding down and refinishing may be enough. How about consolidation with Bencon products? Have just touched on the the subject at Uni but don't know much about using them. Although I will be taking the problems to the tutors at Uni I would be grateful to have any ideas from those at the rock face. Intend restoring very rare Thonet as final degree piece, so need to learn as much as poss. Many thanks. Sue www.suzandy.co.uk
What conclusions did you come to on this? Have you completed the repairs? I would have probably consolidated by injecting lots of glue where split and clamping (bandage?) it.
Clifford Garrett Antique and Period Furniture Restored & Conserved
If the back is only split and has not been insect damaged and I imagine part of it would be bentwood anyway(?), because of the considerable bending factor which may be contributory to its splitting and the need to ensure it stays together I would use something like Westsystem. It is however not reversible and you need to be careful not to have much of the cured application in view, although you can colour it with pigments at the mixing stage. However when Westsystem is sanded back even when coloured any "filled" areas tend to look pretty obvious so would probably need careful painting in. It is immensely strong and deals with most woods. There will soon be a series in one of the BAFRA publications including notes on it's use in the rebuilding of a teak Hindu God's Horse which we had on view at Cheltenham in November..
I had a very helpful reply from Michael Barrington, who suggested a couple of methods of dealing with the splitting. I used both these and others. One of the splits on the outside edge of the back frame was so bad that there was a gap of ½”. The other really bad one had almost split right off. There were numerous others on the back and the rest of the chair. Steam was of great use. I have a little Karcher steamer with a long polythene tube attached to the nozzle. The splits had to be persuaded to return to their proper places under the steam and then clamped while they dried and cooled before introducing the glue (fish and hide). I then cross-dowelled with CSDs (cocktail stick dowels). The various methods seem to have worked well. Replacing the spline around the back of the chair back after caning it was just as problematic.
Splits/breaks in bentwood furniture
Posted - 18/03/2008 : 19:03:32
