Depends on how old they are. If old, they are probably glued with hide glue. Water will soften it. If aliphatic resin, try hot water or a heat gun, may soften it enough. They may also be wedged tenons, which will be very hard to get out, without a lot of pounding. The more you wiggle them around, the worse you will make the problem, then epoxy will be required to reglue.

Are they pinned with a nail or brad? Might run a metal detector over them.

Steam is good for both hide glue and yellow glue. I hook a tube up to a boiler so I can direct it into narrow cracks. (leave an escape route for the steam, lest you make a bomb!)

Spreader clamps can be a more controllable (and more persuasive) method than pounding.

No wedge tenons nor nail or brads that i am aware of. They are about 45 years old. My dad had reglued parts on some previous and some of them need to be reglued as well but they are about falling apart. Good idea on the spreader clamps thanks rweigand. I will also try hot water as I have no idea what type glue was originally used.

I agree with the previous comments and the key to repair is knowing type joinery and glue. I recall reading favorable reviews about a product called "Chair-Loc" or somthing close. I believe one of the pros testing the product drilled holes through which the product was injected useing the syringe included with the kit. I figure slow setting epoxy could be forced into joint in a similar fashion without disassembling chair. If I ever incounter a situation like yours where disasembly is difficult that's what I inteend trying.

PRO

Al Fortunato Furnituremaker Said

"Forget "Chair-Lock" doesn't work."

Glad to know that. The clever part that stuck with me was the syringe trick which should work well with epoxy. I recall sharecroper homes where chairs were held togeather with criscrossed wire twisted tight.

Thanks guys I will be back after it this weekend. Irritating that the balance seems to just about fall apart and this which was an obvious repair by my dad (loose again after 15 years). I know he didn't use any mechanical fasteners in there and for the life of me I cannot understand what the hell is keeping the legs in.

Chairs are one of those things that once they loosen up it seems like no matter how you repair them they will loosen up again in the future. I think 15 years on a loose chair repair is pretty good. Since this is the second go around, I would get them loose, clean them good, and use epoxy, clamp them tight. You need to fill those gaps and aliphatic resin doesn't have good gap filling properties.

I have some gorilla glue, do you think that would be good of course with the clamps when I finally get then apart?

No, gorilla glue expands too much and doesn't dry to a hard solid mass. It dries to a soft foam. Epoxy

Ok thanks

Once chair joints are loose they do tend to become looser with time. Epoxy (or gorilla, which won't work as well) is a radical, irreversible solution, the next guy to have to fix them will curse you (this is especially painful when you turn out to be the next guy, trying to undo your own past repair (don't ask how I know this, let's just say I once believed epoxy to be a permanent solution)).

Re-making the joints is an option if the chairs are worth it. Drill out the mortise, fill the hole with a cross-grain plug matched to the surrounding wood, clean up the tenon and then drill a new hole in your plug to fit the cleaned-up tenon. Chewed up or too-small tenons can be replaced by cutting them off, drilling the end of the spindle out and adding back a loose tenon to make the joint. If you glue such a re-build with hide glue it will be relatively easy for the next guy to fix. You can also, of course, just turn a new, matching spindle with a bigger tenon if preservation of the old material isn't important to you.

Yes epoxy is an un-reverseable solution. Unless the chair is valuable or sentimental to the owner, it is the most cost effective and permanent. Plugging the mortise with a cross grain plug is an excellent solution if the tenon is in acceptable condition. Replacing the tenon by cutting it off and drilling the spindle for a new glued in tenon will fail (been there, done that). Turning a new rung is an acceptable solution if the mortise has been repaired in an acceptable manner. A tight joint is the ultimate goal and epoxy is a gap filling glue which will fill all gaps.

I repair chairs for restaurants on a regular basis and the epoxy solution has been the most reliable. Repairing an previously epoxied joint is just a matter of cutting off the tenon and redrilling, then put in a new rung.

I would not use epoxy on an real antique. Cross grain plug, new rung, hide glue, return the original rung to the owner.

I certainly agree with the desirability and durability of cutting new tenons and/or mortises. I will just say it requires skill that most of us don't have. What throws me a loop is the fact tenon and mortise are usually not origionally paralell to rung and leg. A chair so loose it rattles but will not come apart realy is one of life's mysterys. Pops may have split the tenons and installed wedges which acts on tenon as it bottoms in mortise. Another joint that requires skill because there's no way of knowing how well it fits until it's to late for a do over.

At any rate I look foward to hearing your decision and the outcome.

No new tenon's or mortises here, lol. Basic 45 year old table and chairs that really will be gone with Mom I am certain (she is 85 this year). Also I am reasonably certain Pop took apart the chairs to some extent and used Chair-loc as the 15 year old bottle is still downstairs (and he had told me he used that at some point when they started to loosen). I will work on getting this one apart more this weekend and hopefully have some info to report back with Sunday or Monday.

OK, got some apart used Titebond didn't hold, tried Gorilla glue same result. I realize that this differed from some of the advice but I did what I did. I personally do not think any glue will hold on these and my Mom says she is certainly not buying new chairs and at 85 not sure I blame her, lol. What about running a trim head screw thru the bottom side brace and into the end of the cross brace? Something to keep them from falling apart completely for a few more years hopefully?

With a little heat from a hair dryer you can get epoxy to flow into the joints while they are still assembled. If you want, you can drill a small hole, like 3/32 to give the glue a bigger pathway in to the joint, but vacuum or blow the sawdust away before you glue. It will require using gravity, so you have to be able to turn the chair and orient the joint so the glue will flow in. And as stated above, you have one chance to do this, no do-overs or future re-repairs without resorting to saws and chisels.

Thanks Casey, I will give it a go.