Cabinets, Furniture, Woodworks/dining room chairs

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Expert: - 4/11/2008


Question
I have six antique dining room chairs, and the bottom of the seat cusion (the wood part) is forming a crack in some of the chairs and they are beginning to cave in.  Is there a way to fix this?

Answer
Hi heather. For the most part, anything made of wood can be repaired with either a good wood glue(titebond 2 or 3) or by replacing an entire piece of wood.  Without seeing pictures of what you are describing it is difficult to advise you but I would try the simple solution first.  Try squeezing some wood glue into the crack, then making sure that the wood is in its proper position, apply clamps.  Tighten the clamps up enough so that the glue is squeezing out of the crack.  Let it sit for 24 hours before removing clamps.  Then carefully scrape the hardened glue from the outside.  Your second option is to remove the entire piece of wood and take it to a carpenters shop and have them duplicate the piece, matching the stain and finish as much as possible.  Then replace the piece in the chair.  If these antique chairs are valuable, know that any repair may affect its future value.  Repairs done by skilled craftsman will keep the value better than having someone do it cheaply.  Thanks for the question and have a good day.

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maura macaluso

Expertise

I can answer most questions, regarding, wood sculpture, wood carving, carving tools and accessories and different types of woods.I am not an appraiser of carvings nor an antique dealer.

Experience

I do full design work, custom carving, restoration, fabrication, repair and refinishing. I can take a piece of raw wood and turn it into a work of art and I can help you do the same. I am "the" carving instructor for the new york city parks dept. I am heavily involved in carving on the internet and belong to many, many mail lists which are quite active. I am also an international promoter of woodcarving and am affiliated with many master carvers, notably nora hall, originally from holland, now in the U.S. and kalina pavlova, a bulgarian master carver. I routinely communicate with the top names in professional woodcarving nationally and internationally.

Organizations
the national association of woodcarvers. the woodcarvers of queens NY, the staten island woodcarvers. the northeast woodcarving association. the world wide carving internet list

Publications
chip chats-the national magazine of woodcarving. also at www.carvinginnyc.com

Education/Credentials
Self taught artist and sculptor, 40 years of drawing and painting as a hobby, 5 years of serious woodsculpting. I have my own website and have written a 300 pg book on carving. I have published online tutorials and pictorial projects

Awards and Honors
many first place awards

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