outdoor furniture repair

[skruffy]

I need to repair some outdoor furniture - chairs and a bench. They are made from nyotah, which is supposed to be similar to teak. I've never worked with either, but I'm sure a few of you guys have.

The joints are all pinned mortise and tenon corners and most are loose while some tenons have pulled right through the pin and the joint has fully separated. What's left on these pieces is a tenon with a section torn out of the middle.

The fit is loose enough that I don't trust just glue to hold these together and I don't think I can secure them across like the pins did because of the damage. My thinking right now is to take the joints apart, clean them up, glue them and then use a deck screw (or two on the bigger ones) through the back of the mortise and into the tenon.

Is this the best way to repair the joints, or is there a better way? And what glue would work best here? I have Titebond II, but am I better off with Titebond III, Gorilla or something else?

Thanks for any advice.

[Uncle Cracker]

Step 1 is good glue. You'll be the best judge as to whether the joints are too loose to simply glue, but I can definitely recommend Gorilla Glue or Sumo (by Loctite), because they will both expand to fill in any reasonable slop, and both hold really well. (Make sure you dampen all glued surfaces before applying either of these glues).

Step 2 is good wood. You might wish to consider whether it makes sense to sand the top layer from the tenon and the mortise (to remove any deterioration), and glue the joints using wood shims (be sure to glue both sides of the shim).

After gluing, you can plug the holes from the original wood pins with a similar wood, to restore the original appearance.

[Cheeky]

titebond III is great for outdoor apps, and seems to be made to withstand the elements. i just used it, and seems to really hold.

gorilla glue is nice becuase it expands and it's poly based. maybe use both.

i had a similar problem with joints, and i used stainless L-brackets in inconspicous spots and pocketed some deck screws.

[skruffy]

Thanks for the suggestions guys, I appreciate the help.

I hadn't considered using shims in the loose joints to tighten them up, but I should have. I hope I don't have to go as far as L brackets, though I guess I won't know until I get them apart and start cleaning them up.

Fortunately I have an extra half of a chair (they came unassembled and one of the pieces from the factory was missing a couple of mortises), so I have some matching wood, though less weathered, to make up plugs. I don't know if I'll get as fancy as plugging screw heads, but it will definitely be useful to fill in the holes from the pins.

Thanks again.

[skruffy]

I just wanted to give a quick update...

This weekend I worked on the bench, which was the piece where the tenon had pulled completely out of the mortise. After taking all the joints apart (drilled out the pins that were still holding) and cleaning everything up, I was reasonably satisfied with the fit. Some of the joints were a bit looser than perfect, but not loose enough to shim.

I then glued it back up with gorilla glue. This was my first time working with it, but I've lurked here long enough to be careful about the foam out and I really liked working with it. I clamped the pieces and put in two screws on each bench end in what seemed like the most highly stressed joints.

As I got ready to take the next chair apart, I realized that I was out of clamps! I didn't want to unclamp the bench too soon, so I called it a day for this project and did other work in the yard.

Sunday I unclamped it and checked it out. It was very solid, much more so than I remember it being when it was brand new. I didn't have time to start on the next piece because we had family plans, but I'm looking forward to doing the rest.

Thanks again for the pointers guys,

[mdutch]

Sunday I unclamped it and checked it out. It was very solid, much more so than I remember it being when it was brand new.

Glad the Gorilla glue worked for you -- I just started month six after installation of a mortise & loose tenon western red cedar gate I made, and all joints are waterproof and showing no shift at all.

Your comment about the tenons being loose when it was new reminds me of another piece of wooden lawn furniture we purchased at a local store recently. I realized the "give" in the joints was going to cause them to fracture over time, so I pulled it apart and re-glued it with G.G. then and there. No problems!

Craftsmanship seems to be awfully bad these days. However I often can't purchase the raw wood as cheaply as I can purchase a fully-made teak bench! Sometimes at our house it seems smarter to buy good wood and good design and fix the lousy assembly with G.G.

I hope the glue holds up for you as well as it has for me.