Introduction
If your wooden chair's side stretcher has fallen out due to a broken dowel, use this guide for a 10 step repair that will re-insert it securely.
A chair's side stretcher helps strengthen its vertical supports and adds visual appeal to its lower section. When excessive or uneven vertical weight is put on a side stretcher, it can break the horizontal support.
Oftentimes, this break is at one of the dowels holding the stretcher in. But with a few simple tools and actions, this break can easily be fixed, as demonstrated in this guide.
Before beginning this repair, please note that the dowel size and clamp length used in the repair are specific to the size of your chair and stretcher. Make sure to note which of the chair's leg holes are for the broken dowel and the intact dowel as well. The process will take around 20 minutes with an additional 24 hours of curing time for the wood glue.
Tools
Parts
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Use the sandpaper to rough up the empty dowel holes on the side stretcher and the chairs legs.
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Apply a glob of wood glue to the other leg's hole.
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Use the stirrer to spread the glue around the hole.
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Align the empty stretcher hole to the the leg hole filled with paste.
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Insert the dowel and firmly push it in till it's fully submerged into the stretcher hole.
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Put the legs holding the stretcher between the bar clamp's jaws.
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Screw in the handle to clamp together the legs until it is secure.
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Leave the chair and bar clamp in place for 24 hours while the wood glue and paste cures.
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After waiting, screw out the clamp's handle to remove it from the chair.
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Your chair should now resemble how it was before, with the side stretcher back in place. Happy fixing!
