Tools Needed to Rebuild an old Chair

Series Summary

Restoring and refurbishing old furniture is a fulfilling hobby and an art form. To maintain the integrity & value of antiques, the restoration must be done in a very precise way to preserve the history and beauty of each piece of furniture. Antique collectors pay thousands and thousands of dollars every year to buy and restore their old pieces, and these processes bring out the best in each piece, allowing their natural beauty for all to see.

In this free video series, our expert Michael McGreary will teach you how to repair, rebuild, and restore an old chair. He will show you all the tools you'll need, how to do the shake test, and how to label the parts so you don't get mixed up along the way. Michael will show you how to remove the seat, deal with old nails and screws, prepare your workspace, remove old glue, apply new glue, clamp the seat, back & legs of the chair, and how to wipe excess glue & materials from the chair. Michael will tell you how to disassemble the parts of the chair including the legs, seat, spindles, supports, side spindles, and the back before showing you how to clamp & glue the new parts back together and and wax and buff the newly restored, beautifully refurbished old chair.

Video Transcript

"Ok, the tools that we're going to need fix this chair include a pad for the bench so we don't mess the wood up too much. You will need several clamps like this. You can also use another kind of furniture clamp which has little circles on the end that?s called a cabinet clamp. These can be picked up at your local home supply store. They cost maybe about twelve dollars apiece. I'm going to be using four to five of these today this is another chair that's in the process of being fixed. We're also going to need a rubber mallet. A mat knife. A roll of tape. A small screwdriver. A pen. Some water. This is larger water for dipping our rag and this is for keeping our glue brush in while we're in the process of gluing. These are the basic tools we're going to use. We may need to use some small pairs of pliers or a knife, a smaller knife but we'll get into that as I start taking the chair apart and cleaning the parts. So we're ready to give this chair what we call the shake test and this is to find out where it?s loose and what needs to be fixed."