My husband and I bought a counter-height table and chair set. It wasn’t particularly expensive. The table looks good, the stools/chairs are pretty comfy, etc. But I started using the chairs for doing school work at the counter, and I managed to break the front rung thing off two by constantly putting my feet on them over the course of about 2.5 years (the wood split around the dowels that were holding the bar in place. The bar itself didn’t break, but the legs have too-big holes in them now).
So, my really stupid questions:
Once you do that, the chair is pretty much ruined, right? We still have them, but I’m assuming they are now unfixable.
Is this just a symptom of a really cheap chair or am I super-destructive?
If I bought new chairs/stools what should I look for to avoid this problem (if it’s avoidable)?
It’s possible to repair oversized holes in wood, and relatively easy for someone with a bit of woodworking skill and a few tools. First you drill out the “bad” hole to an even bigger but clean-sided new hole. Use a Forstner bit or equivalent to get a nice, clean hole. Then glue in a wooden dowel of appropriate diameter to fill the entire hole. Use some hardwood that approximates the color of the chair leg. Then sand flush and finish to match the leg. Finally, bore a new hole to mate with the rung you want to re-fit. Glue it in place and your chair is good as new.
Thanks for the explanation. I definitely don’t qualify as someone with woodworking skills OR tools, but this means we can at least talk about and/or look into having them fixed. We may decide it’s not worth it.
If the foot rail was really attached only by dowels they are cheap chairs. The rail should be attached with a mortise and tenon joint. A mortise and tenon joint is similar to dowel construction but instead of drilling holes in both pieces to insert a dowel you drill a hole in one piece (the mortise) and form a sort of “built-in” dowel on the end of the mating piece (the tenon). This is much stronger than dowel construction because the tenon is part of the rail, eliminating a possible point of failure.
Also, the fact that the hole that the dowel was in has expanded probably means that the chairs are made of a soft wood. That’s bad for chairs because soft woods tend to expand and contract with changes in humidity more than hard woods do, which over time weakens the joints.
The hole in the legs where the dowel went in didn’t just expand. It splintered down. Essentially, by putting my big clunky feet on it, I tore the bar down and it ripped through the bottom portion of the hole. I don’t know how to explain it better. So it wasn’t actually the dowel that failed, it was the leg.
But the upshot is that I want to find a replacement that this won’t happen to.
make the holes clean and even (drilling slightly larger) and replace with a dowel that fits.
you could using another piece of wood make a more durable foot rest that would attach to the legs and rung.
take a look at some chairs in stores or catalogs and get an idea. some stools (or swivel seats) might have a foot rest on all sides that are straight pieces or a ring. these can be wood or metal, attached in various ways.
Sounds to me like the legs didn’t just split, but also had to spread apart somewhat. It’s otherwise hard to imagine the wood of the legs being so soft that it just rips downward. But if the legs spread a bit, then the dowels were only contacting (and tearing) the edges of the holes. And as you shifted your butt in the seat, the rungs worked at ever-changing angles against the legs as the whole assembly flexed. This makes more sense than the legs being made of balsa wood.
There are certainly plenty of replacements available, and you can easily procure some. That might go with a redecorating scheme and be a fun experience. But if these are comfortable and you’re happy with the design, the repair I described above really isn’t a big deal for any medium-proficient woodworker. Drill out well oversized to increase the surface area. Glue in actual hardwood. And glue the rungs back. Use a quality wood glue. And check the other joints (tops of all legs, connection to seat) and glue or tighten screws as needed. You should have no repeat of the issue.