Does anyone work for movers. A driver just dropped off this chair and said he tried to repair both back legs but they are not holding. He broke the arm carrying it into the shop.
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I've done work for a company that took care of moving damage. These pictures look like a "no thank you" Whoever did that ruined the joints. Never to be good again. Probably done with some sort of glue that is not meant for wood. People should do what they know like move furniture and leave repairs to repair people.
Looks like somebody raided the Gorilla Glue shelf at Wally World.
Yep, I hate the stuff. It's supposed to OK when properly used, used sparingly, properly clamped, and a well-fitting joint. Unfortunately, that's usually not the case. Much better marketing than performance, IMO. Failed jobs usually doubles or triples the time to do the repair, if possible at all. But, it stains the fingers, ruins clothes if you get it on them, and has a really short shelf life.
I finished up a moving claim today. The movers apparently added a few drywall screws to hold things together, the heads were sunk about 1/4" into the wood. Again, just leave it alone. There was a little cam on the inside that would have tightened it all up.
Quote from: sofadoc on January 03, 2014, 01:04:56 pm
Looks like somebody raided the Gorilla Glue shelf at Wally World.
Thats a not fun job awaiting. I would have sent him on his way with the chair theres no money to be made there.
A couple of follow up photos - customer asked if I could keep it under $ 200.00 and could he have it in a week. I will help the guy he's a small struggling business owner but his repairs are the killer. I cleaned up, doweled, and epoxied one leg last night - this guy won't get a second chance from me if he ever tries to do the repairs himself then come to me.
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Took out 20 4 penny nails and 4 sheet rock screws - different photos
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I hate when people do this stuff.
Looks like you are going to make it Steve.
How old is the chair?
Would it still be in production? We can get parts for wood items sometimes, if the item is still in production. Or, just order a new item, most is made in Asia and they are cheap.
Doyle
The bottom of the chair has a label "Indonesia" you can see in one photo the seat stripe is worn off - cheap fabric. This chair was already at the end of its life so the mover thought; "I'll just throw a few nails in it to hold" then he felt guilty when he looked at it in her house - so the chair came to me. I'm not going to put a lot of time in this - just enough to make it stable and retouch the antique white paint - not trying to make it a new chair. I'll be under 3 hours labor total + materials. He'll also owe me the next time I need something heavy picked up/ but I won't let him have a hammer or nails on the truck.
SA
Quote from: SteveA on January 04, 2014, 05:55:36 am
....... you can see in one photo the seat stripe is worn off - cheap fabric.
When I first looked at the original pic, I thought you had laid some piece of fabric over the seat for protection while you worked on the frame.
If the fabric is THAT far gone, I wouldn't waste a single minute on that chair. Even if you restored the wood to mint condition, it's still a worn out chair that was cheap to begin with.
If I were the mover, I'd consider myself MORE than generous if I offered to knock 50 bucks off her bill, and tossed that chair out by the curb.
You're not wrong Doc ! But the chair meant something to the lady who owns it - go figure. It wasn't even worth $ 50.00; but instead of the lady getting the $ 50.00 - I get $ 200.00. She gets her chair back. The chair is almost done. I'll post a photo -
The mover is coming to get it on Sunday morning and bringing me another mishap to fix up. Take the good with the bad I guess - because property taxes + estimates due this month - helps a bit -
SA
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Well, you certainly can't put a price on sentimental value.
It probably accounts for half our income.
I can't help but wonder. Does the lady really treasure the chair that much, or is she just "bustin' his chops"?
You never know with some customers - yes she may have been a tough cookie - I didn't meet her but the mover came to me distressed and was really looking for help. Well - it's a new year I'll start off easy going with customers and work my way into inflexible by St Pats !
SA
Looks good Steve,
What type of epoxy did you use, must have been sandable?
I know about these emotional feelings people have about older furniture, I have three chairs in work now that were from three or four generations ago. The short answer is; just work for the customer and get paid.
Congrats
Doyle
I used a 2 part 5 minute epoxy made by Loctite available in Home Depot. Each leg also got a 3/8 dowel and the breakage glued and cracks filled with the same quick drying epoxy. For these legs I needed quick set so the glue would not run out of the voids and cracks created by the nails and screws. Finally Bondo as the filler, sanding sealer, white lacquer with a slight raw umber tint, a light glaze with a dry brush (shellac mixed with earth pigments) flat lacquer top coat, 4-0 steel wool.
The epoxy that showed between the voids was just slightly abraded with a riffler just so the bondo could grab onto it.
SA
Great job, SteveA.
There is also a gel/paste epoxy that I use. There are varieties from 5 minute to 24 hour setup. You can carve the stuff I use in about 5-10 minutes and sand in about 30, depending upon ambient temperature. You can accelerate by heating with a hair dryer if you're in a hurry.
Mohawk also make a real nice epoxy. 5 minute sand-able shape-able with tooling and stain-able.
Great fix! Looks fantatic. My sister & her ex-husband worked for a moving company (HE still does) and you can't beleive the little piddy stuff that "customers" put claims in for! I can only judge other people on what I do myself - but I know I have nicked, knocked, scratched and torn my own stuff just moving it around from room to room. (Mainly because I don't wait for Prince Charming to be home to help me) Heck, I even mark the walls using a vacuum! But when you are paying someone else to do the moving, you expect perfection. And whatever the hired help damages is always worth more after it's damaged...At least that's what my sister said. And just think about what movers MOVE. Lot's of stuff I'd never attempt. We had professional movers when we moved from AL to TN and I thought those boys were going to cry when they saw my sewing room........... ;)
Sam
Sam
Movers don't get enough credit for the hard work they do but their worth is sometimes offset by bad decisions . Not all but some of them do need to work with the old timers more often. That's the teaching part of the business. For the tremendous amount of difficult things they move usually under adverse conditions - movers make a hard job look easy.
Hammer + Min
I usually have Mohawk epoxy or west system around but those were running low. Loctite seems very comparable to Mohawk's 5 minute and I can buy it without waiting for a shipment. I did bulk up the epoxy with some micro fibers after painting the raw wood with just the 2 part mix. I've noticed those gels in the Van Dykes catalog but haven't tried them - thanks for reminding me - I will order them the next time around.
SA
Great job Steve........:)
Awesome repair.
Chris