Restoring A Pair of Cool Mid-Mod Chairs – Reassembly (Dealing With Wallowed-out Screw Holes)

The final steps to the conservation of the chairs was the reassembly, which first required me to replace most of the screws that were in the chair when it arrived on my door step.

I’ve got a can of miscellaneous screws that accumulate over the years.  You’ve probably got one too.  I know the guy who worked on these chairs before had one too, because it looks like he just poured it out on the bench and used the first few dozen screws that were within reach with no effort to match screws to each other or to the tasks involved.

I tried to carefully match the screws to the tasks they were executing, and within that function, matched the screws to each other.  It was not much of a problem really, as I am the kind of guy who, when he needs a screw or two, goes to the hardware store and buys a box of the size he needs.  Because of that I have a pretty good hardware store shelf under the shop stairs.

One of the problems I found in a handful of locations, and which I encounter with some regularity since I spend so much time working on old furniture, is the wallowed out screw hole, where the damage is such that any reasonable sized screw will be ineffectual.  To solve that problem I use the following strategy.

First, I establish the depth of the screw hole, usually with a bamboo skewer, then cut a strip of 100% linen rag stationary paper so that the width of the strip of paper is equal to the depth of the existing hole.  The I roll up the strip into a curl, so that it fits snugly into the wallowed out hole.  I press the rolled fill into the hole, then wick dilute hide glue onto the rolled up paper fill so that it becomes pretty well saturated, then I set the piece aside overnight to let the glue penetrate and harden.  When I return to the task the next day, I find that the proper sized screw fits and bites perfectly.  If anything goes wrong, I just dampen the fill and gently remove it all with the pointed end of the skewer or a dental pick and start it all over again.  It’s a high strength, high utility archival repair.  What’s not to like about it?

I returned the chairs to the client’s home where they were placed alongside her exquisite Breuer leather and chrome chairs, where they complete the living room ensemble with real class.