Wikkelso Ringstol repair  

@tktoo2 you seems to be one of the resident woodworkers. Any ideas on this repair?

@frankielemmons Yeah, I saw that on my phone while I was away. It's hard to assess from photos, but the ring's gone out-of-plane over time, obviously. Whatever you decide to do is going to put a lot of pressure on that bottom joint for sure. I guess I'd use regular Titebond and add steel mending plates with the top one inlaid flush (I think you'd need both, one in tension and the other in compression depending on axis of pressure) like you proposed. Seems easiest since we're not talking museum piece here.

@tktoo2 Thank you, that all makes sense to me, and is likely the route I will go. As far as getting the top one inlaid, do you think that is something I can achieve with just a chisel? Unfortunately I don't have a router or much other equipment. I may not even try to get it inlaid in the end - I think the cord will disguise it pretty well assuming it's somewhat thin.

@frankielemmons, sorry if all that was confusing. I guess I'd start by disassembling the "ring" from the rest of the frame as well as the top and bottom finger joints and clean those up of any glue residue. Then dry fit the ring back together and place it face down on a flat floor to see exactly how bad the warping is. That should tell you a lot about how much work you're in for as far as getting it back into original configuration. There should be enough play in the leg frame and seat rails for everything to fit back into their sockets, but this would be the time to confirm that, too. Remember when re-gluing the finger joints that it's long grain-to-long grain that matters. Glue doesn't work well with end grain or cross grain situations.

Once you're ready for reassembly, I'd start with the finger joints, shape them fair after they've fully cured, then mount plates if needed.

I wouldn't go too thin with the mending plates. Around 1/8-inch or 2.5mm is what I'd probably shoot for and that's likely thick enough to telegraph through paper cord. Cutting a mortise to inset the top plate can be done well enough with a butt or bench chisel. That's what butt chisels are made for and they're what I'd use. It doesn't need to be perfect, just close.

Are you restoring this to keep or for resale?

@tktoo2 none of it was confusing. I've actually already disassembled the whole thing, finger joints included. These photos are during my attempt to see if everything would fit back together (it does...for now), hence the ratchet strap.

This is a restoration I am doing for someone else. I feel pretty confident about my weaving abilities, but wasn't expecting such a curveball with the ring. 

And yes, I have been looking at 2.5mm mending plates. Once they are on I guess a test run of wrapping the rail with cord will let me know if I need to do more to hide them.

@frankielemmons, okay, good. Sometimes trying to describe this stuff is frustrating and, often enough, I get lost in my words. The reason I recommended regular Titebond is in case the chair needs future repair.

FTR, I've never even seen one of these chairs in person, so I'm going on intuition here. It is weird the way the ring sections distorted, though. Typically, steam-bent pieces want to relax back to straight when unrestricted rather than the other way 'round. The weaving looks challenging, too.

Best of luck! Post pics!

@tktoo2 It is strange, but I'm guessing that when someone get's up out of the chair they push off of either side of the ring (the "arms") and I can imagine that that would make for the distortion. Just a guess though. 

And yes, pictures will follow.