The following information is taking from my Furniture Refinishing Online Clinic

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Dealing with loose joints.

You will find many suggestions on dealing with loose fitting joints.

I have tried many of them and was not satisfied with most of them.

Some I have tried include:

Those metal strips that you see advertised.

Wrapping thread around a dowel joint.

Wrapping cloth around a dowel.

Any type of glue that expands.

Applying excess glue to fill the gap.

Hot Glue

Epoxy Glue

And many more.

I found that the only way that satisfies me is wood on wood contact.

When you are in this business, you do not want jobs coming back because the joints didn't hold.

The following are techniques that I use to insure tight fitting joints.

First of all if the joint is just a little loose, I usually install a piece of veneer into the socket.

The veneer is usually 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch wide and 1 & 1/2 to 2 inches long.

The veneer must be clean of all old glue and dirt.

Clean both parts of the joint with a tack cloth.

The socket can be cleaned by wrapping the tack cloth around a pencil or small dowel.

NOTE: - Perform a dry test first. You may need two pieces of veneer. If this is the case, apply your second veneer strip opposite the first strip.

Next- apply glue to both parts of the joint.

Before assembling the joint stick a veneer strip into the glued socket.

Hold the veneer strip against the wall of the socket and carefully tap the two parts of the joint together.

After the joint is fully seated, break off the excess veneer strip.

Note- If it is a chair that you are working on, you should have a flat level surface to check that the legs do not wobble. I use my Table Saw surface. A piece of 1/2 or 3/4 inch MDF will work also.

Shim it level if you need to...

The type of glue I use is either Carpenters Glue or Franklin Glue.

If you do not have any veneer, you can purchase some at your home depot or make your own.

If you are making your own, Veneer should be made from hard wood like Maple.

In a pinch you can use dowels and slice thin strips, and use them as veneer strips.

If you have a table saw or band saw you can make as many as you need.

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NOW- If the joint that you are working on is really loose, you can wrap some veneer around the dowel joint and glue it on the dowel. If you do this, do not wrap it completely around. Leave a space of 1/16 or 1/8 of a inch. This will allow the excess glue to escape when you put the two pieces together.

To hold the veneer you can use painters tape tightly around the dowel.

You may also use self-sticking veneer.

After the glue has tried, sand to fit.

You are looking for a snug fit, or a press fit. You Do Not want to have to use brute force.

To tight a fit may break the joint.

Once you get it to fit right, clean both parts thoroughly.

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If the socket is really worn and distorted, you will need to plug it and make a new socket.

This is how I do it. There may be better ways, but I haven't found any yet.

Any way, find a dowel the fits as closely as possible and glue it in.

Once the glue dries, cut it off level.

Find a drill bit a little larger then the original socket size, find the center and drill a new socket.

Now you need to make the dowel fit the new socket size.

You can do this with veneer.

Wrap the veneer around the dowel and glue it.

Once the glue dries, check for fit.

If the fit is a little tight you sand it till it fits snug.

If the fit is still loose, glue more veneer to the dowel.

Don't forget to leave a space for the excess glue to escape.

That about does it for this lesson...

If I think of anything else, I will ad it...

Any questions...Contact me...

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More lessons can be found on my Furniture Refinishing Online Clinic which now contains over 160 lessons.