Expert: Eileen Cronk - 11/14/2008

Question
i have a 40 year old cherry queen anne dining room set that i bought new.  the caulking around the glass in the china closet is starting to fall out and the glass is getting loose.  can i buy furniture caulking.  i tried regular caulk and it does not look right but does the job.  the caulking around the glass in the china closet is brown and thicker than regugular caulk.  can i buy furniture caulk anywhere and do it myself.

Answer
Hi Marilyn
Nice to hear from you.
Never heard of furniture caulk but I do know years ago putty was used for securing glass in furniture. This of course was before the advent of todays caulking like you tried.
Is it possible the caulking you describe as falling out is putty?
Putty does not last forever and will break up over time as it dries out. It will crack at inch or two inch intervals it seems then fall out.
Putty is fairly easy stuff to work with but you will need a putty knife and a bit of patience if you have never done it before.
I roll a long "rope" of putty, place it along the recess, then use the putty knife to squeeze it into place.
Usually the first pass you make with the putty knife removes any excess. The final pass smoothes it out.
Don't try to use your fingers for smoothing as it will look awful.
Thats what the putty knife is for.
And less is best when applying putty.
Hope this helps
Regards
Eileen