Expert: Kirk Ryan - 6/28/2008

Question
I'm building some dining room chairs for myself.  The references I've found talk about screwing in the corner braces.  What is not mentioned is 1. whether it's also good to glue them in along with the screws and 2. what kind of wood is best to use for the corner blocks (I assume a hardwood but is there a preferred kind.. that's not hard to find?)  

Hopefully any chair repairs you have had to do have given you experience with this.

Thank you,
Andrew

Answer
Hi there,

1.) Yes adding wood glue is always a good idea, most of the chairs I have at my store are glued along with support bolts.

2.) Most of the companies I deal with use left over wood that they had when making the chairs. It looks like they use the raw wood that the chair is made of usually. So for example, with a solid cherry chair, it appears that they use cherry wood that is unstained and unfinished. I have noticed some other companies use beech wood. I am unsure if they use the beech wood for strength or cost.

I hope this helps.