Re-gluing a Joint: HELP!!!

[Prashun Patel]

I dropped the base of a coffee table I've been working on and the leg cracked. As a result, I have to dismantle the joint at the stretcher to accept a new leg.

I got the joint disassembled. I used PVA glue originally (the joint's about a week old). The leg and stretcher are walnut.

Two questions:

1) Do I need to sand down to bare wood prior to regluing?
2) Should I use PVA again or epoxy?

Any help appreciated!

Ok, I have to go wipe off all this sweat...

[Sean Hughto]

Are we taling about a mortise and tenon?

Yes, you need to remove PVA residue down to fresh bare wood if you wish to use PVA again. By contrast, hide glue, for example, would have been reactivated by new glue.

If you don't want to or can't clean it, epoxy would be a good choice.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Prashun....dunno the type joint you need to repair. And, I am not an epoxy guy.

But - have redone enough joints to tell you this...on PVA, you want bare wood. Sand/scrape/plane. If it is a tenon, then - of course - glue a shim, let it cure, re-machine it.

EDIT - Sean types faster than me...kinda stepped on him. Sorry.

[Prashun Patel]

It's a bridle joint; really an open mortise and tenon. I've read an article by Jeff Jewitt saying to soak the joint in vinegar for old PVA. However, I'm afraid of blackening the wood.

I have and like epoxy here, since the stretcher joint (the tenon side of the joint) will have to be hand machined and I believe it will do a better job of dealing with slight irregularities than wood glue might. However, I was unsure about epoxy over another glue; would they impede each other's ability to cure properly?

[Sean Hughto]

"hand machined"???

You only need to refresh the tenon portion on the stretcher as the leg (mortise) will be new, right? And only the cheeks really hold anything, so if the shoulders have glue residue, no bid deal. If are making a new mortise anyway, making it slightly narrower to the exact size of the refreshed tenon should be no problem. If you feel it must be the same size, take off extra and glue in a fresh piece of wood to the cheek - like this:

[Sean Hughto]

One of my favorite tools for hand machining tenon cheeks:

[Prashun Patel]

Thanks Guys. I will just take the tenon on the stretcher down to fresh wood best I can, and fit the new leg's mortise to it. I'm still going to use epoxy.

[Kent A Bathurst]

And you are not going to drop it this time, correct?..............

BTW - welcome to the club on that one.

[Jim Matthews]

As a kid proof joint for woodworking.

+1 on scarfing in new cheeks to reglue.
If that fails to fit, a floating tenon is a decent fix.