Stickley Era, the Arts & Crafts Movement

[Marnic]

I have a Limbert #487 chest of drawers with a lovely dark finish. Unfortunately, I need to do a bit of repair work on it. I'm searching for a single Limbert round lock, but I am sure that's a pipe dream! Does anyone have one to sell or is there a source? Frankly, I could use a new top drawer front, as there is damage where someone hacked at the lock. It's been re-glued, but it's far from ideal.

The blind tenon at the bottom keeps pulling away from the sides. While it is still structurally stable, I was wondering if there is a way to repair without disassembling the piece. Has anyone used one of the wood expanding products designed for use on chairs? I think I read an earlier post that some of you have had success, but I wanted to see if this is an appropriate application for that product.

Thanks!

[Stonecat]

Welcome to the forum!

Limbert lock - who knows, you would have to search the better hardware dealers to maybe find something close but probably just a good repair of the wood damage is your best bet for the sake of appearance.

When you say blind tenon at the bottom, do you mean in the arched stretcher under all the drawers? I doubt the expanding fluid will help here. Maybe pry it open as much as possible, clean/scrape as much as possible, and get some glue or epoxy in there somehow, and clamp. You might be able to drill a small pilot hole on an angle (preferably on the hidden side) and use a glue syringe, as well.

I'm thinking we are going to need pictures to really be able to give advice. Check the instructions for posting pictures in the Announcements section.
_________________

Stonecat

[Marnic]

Yes, it is the curved stretcher right under the bottom drawer that has come loose on both sides. I have clamped the area before to draw it back together, but it slowly works its way out. I can clean the glue off the tenon, but not the hole it slides into. Will that cleaning be enough to get the two surfaces to adhere? Has anyone had success with epoxy over some hide glue residue?

I'd post a picture, but I'm still a couple postings away from being able to do so.

[Stonecat]

Maybe it keeps working loose because the posts are warped

Spam a couple messages with nothing in them to get the count up to 5, then do pictures
_________________

Stonecat

[Marnic]

Here goes...

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/71957823@N05/6502574069/" title="DSC_0113 by geckofeeties, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7033/6502574069_6e218551c6.jpg" width="332" height="500" alt="DSC_0113"></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/71957823@N05/6502576113/" title="DSC_0114 by geckofeeties, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7011/6502576113_94163c936a.jpg" width="332" height="500" alt="DSC_0114"></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/71957823@N05/6502572047/" title="DSC_0112 by geckofeeties, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7008/6502572047_8cb1b45e97.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="DSC_0112"></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/71957823@N05/6502569959/" title="DSC_0111 by geckofeeties, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7144/6502569959_030c5405c3.jpg" width="332" height="500" alt="DSC_0111"></a>

I hope I'm posting these correctly!

[Steve06]

Very nice looking finish and nice form on the dresser.

For the repair I would probably do as Stonecat suggested and scrape as much of the old glue off as possible (hobby knife?) and then use a syringe to put a VERY small amount of Gorilla glue in the joints and clamp (gently!). If you haven't used Gorilla glue before you need to know that it expands A LOT so use very sparingly. But, it holds very well. It is NOT reversible, and obviously not period which you may want to consider for something this nice.

[Stonecat]

I would guess that something in the frame is warped enough that it helps to keep opening the gaps. The vagaries of time, heat, humidity, etc. have caused the old glue to fail and something to warp a bit. Run a straight edge and/or square if you have one around the posts and side panels and see what might look off. Can you manually squeeze it completely tight without any groans or other bad sounds (in the wood, not in you)? If so, then regluing is worth a shot. You'll need the right clamps, but even ratchet straps will work - contact points padded of course. Another thought is to remove the top if it's not too big of a deal, because it's essentially part of the frame and hopefully is held by screws only - the result is you can open up the frame even more. There are several glue options. I think 'fish glue' is the one reversible option but not very strong and being authentic with glue is not the same as being authentic with finish - I dont think it matters. If you choose a glue with some working time and clamp properly so that everything is as true as possible, then you've done it right the first time. I've been using cabinet glue from Lee Valley with lots of success. It seems to have all the right things going for it.

http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=45104&cat=1,110,42965,45104

They also have syringes. The idea of drilling along the interface of the tenon and mortise might not be needed, but let us know first if you want to try to take the top off and see if you can open it up more.
_________________

Stonecat

[Jeremy]

[Marnic]

Thank you for all the tips on repairing the chest of drawers. I have used a clamp to pull the frame back together without using glue before. It goes back together pretty readily and without "stress noises". It took about 6 months to work back to where it is now, so even without glue, it held pretty well. If it weren't for pulling drawers in and out daily, I imagine just pulling it back together would have been enough.

I'll do some investigation on the potential loss or addition of glue blocks. I think that re-gluing should be pretty successful, based on the apparent lack of any severe warp to the frame. It's a great chest and I enjoy using it-- it's one of my favorite pieces and just looks fantastic.