Regluing "Jenny Lind" spindle bed

Greetings all,

I have an old "Jenny Lind" spindle bed that racks from side to side. Cleaning up and regluing the bottom rail and upper tenons will be fairly straightforward, but I notice that all the vertical spindles are also loose and thus will spin. There is a slight bowing of the two turned rails that capture these spindles.

My question is: did original construction generally use glue on the vertical spindle tenons, or were they typically just captured? I could straighten out the bow in the turned rails by gluing a couple or all of the vertical spindles and clamping - it's not that severe. But is this sacrilegious? It is old - not a reproduction. Don't want to be accused of "laying violent hands on" an antique, valuable today or not.

What say ye?

Thanks,

Bruce

I can't answer your question, but I will say I use hide glue when repairing old furniture. It is reversible.

I use the real stuff, made from flakes and heated in a double boiler.

Thank you Lowell. I knew that. I'll be using LV old brown glue, though.

Well, I shouldn't have assumed you didn't know it. I've read discussions before where the participants weren't aware of it.
So, the old brown glue works like the hide glue I use. I'll have to try it.:)

I've always seen the spindles glues although they were loose by the time I was repairing them.

Have you ever used warm vinegar water to dissolve old glue? I've used it on hide and white glue.

I got talked into buying a bottle of Deglue Goo a while back. It works, but a home recipe probably works just as well. The Deglue definitely has a vinegar smell to it - my guess is it also has some glycerine in it to aid in "cling".

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lowell holmes

Have you ever used warm vinegar water to dissolve old glue? I've used it on hide and white glue.

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Bingo! We have a winner!