Welcome to Woodworks Made Easy

Practice any art, however well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to find out what's inside you.
--- Kurt Vonnegut

Pictures are meant to be self explanatory, and for visual clarity you may
click on each photo to enlarge. For older projects see Blog Archive. I don't specialize on a particular genre so there is quite a variety of projects for a number of different interests.

Even if you are not a woodworker but you like some or all of the projects, have your local crafts person make them for you from the ideas and photos you see here. For a particular project just click the specific title on the Blog Archive list (right side column below).

For anyone willing to learn or begin to do woodworking for the first time, please read first from the Blog Archive, "How and Where to Begin a Woodworking Hobby.

And it is not for men only. Read my note on "Women in Woodworking" from Blog Archive, April 2010.


click on each photo to enlarge


Thursday, January 8, 2015

Old Rocking Chair Restoration

Across everywhere are old furniture, many of them can still be restored.  Common issues with them are loose joints from broken sections or when the original glue had shrunk or failed from effects of weather or humidity.  Hundred year old furniture are susceptible to those failures but worthy of restoration.  First photo below is an example of that. There were loose joints, a couple with broken off round tenons.


I clamped the loose joints to simulate dried glue up to see if the chair can be made rigid.  It did.

Where the round tenons broke off at the rail part I drilled a hole that will accept a round dowel. 
 
The round dowel was sized to fit the round mortise as shown.

Shown above is the dry fitted "new" joint.


Where the existing tenon was still good I scored the old tenon so glue can go in there during glue up.

Clamps were applied at various joint sections.

For added strength and to prevent the joints from ever coming off again I drilled 1/4 inch holes all the way through to the round dowel tenons. 1/4 inch dowels were then inserted with glue through the holes.

The dowels were cut flush. A new finish. if desired, hide the tiny holes.

The chair, now rigid all over, will still need a seat.

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