Simple Table Repairs: Bracing Corners, Mending Legs and Frames
Uneven legs
Make sure the unevenness is in the table, not on the floor. You can test this by standing the table on several different areas of floor. When you are sure the table is at fault, place it in a truly flat surface – perhaps a sheet of thick plywood laid on the floor.
Pack thin scrap pieces of wood under the leg or legs where the table rocks until the table stands firm and level. You may find one leg shorter or longer than the other three.
With the table standing correctly, set a pair of compasses so that the pencil touches the table leg just above the thickest amount of packing. Mark all four legs with the compass pencil, keeping the compass point in the floor each time.
Carefully saw off the excess from each leg, using a fine-toothed tenon saw. Rub the cut edges with fine glass paper. The table will now stand firm on all four legs.
Loose legs
Have a look under the table to see how the legs are fixed. Tighten any loose screws or wing nuts.
Where there are simple woodworking joints, tap apart any loose ones with a wood mallet or rubber faced hammer; clean off all old glue with a chisel, then re-glue, clamping the joints, together while the glue sets.
To strengthen the joints, use metal corner braces, available from most hardware stores. Fit a brace across a corner, setting its ends into slightly recessed slots chiseled or sawn into each piece of wood. Remove the brace once you have established its position and screw the special bolt provided with the brace into the corner, so that its threaded length will protrude through the hole in the brace. Screw the brace in place with the bolt protruding. Screw a wing nut onto the protruding bolt.
Loose dowel joints
Use a mallet or rubber faced hammer to knock apart any loose joints made with dowels. Use a chisel and abrasive paper to clean off all old glue from the dowels and from the holes in which they fit. If stubs of broken dowel are stuck in the holes, drill and clean them out.
Prepare new dowels, making sure they are grooved, then apply new wood glue. Tap the joints together , putting a piece of hardwood between the hammer and the wood to avoid bruising the wood, then clamp the joints until the glue has set. Wipe away any surplus glue while it is still wet.
Split leg
Splits can occur on coffee table legs that have been fitted with castors or glide feet. Remove the castor and socket or the glide, and open up the split as far as possible with a chisel blade so that you can inject wood glue into the crack. Use plenty of glue, then clamp the parts together and wipe away surplus glue while it is wet. When the glue has set, clear out the hole and re fit the castor and socket or the glide.
If the glide is held by small screws, some of which have split the leg, repair as above, then fill the screw holes with plastic wood. Drill new start holes for the screws before screwing the glide back in place on the leg.
Drop-leaf hinges
Wood can split along the screw line of hinges, perhaps through too much pressure on the flap. remove the flap and hinges, open up the crack with a chisel and insert wood glue in the split. Clamp the wood until the glue sets.
Fill the screw holes with small tapered plugs of wood, glued and tapped into place. When the glue has set, cut or saw off the surplus plugging.
Re-position the hinge or hinges over the repair, and use a bradawl to mark the positions of new start holes for the screws. Drill start holes then screw the hinges back in place.
Dropped leaf
Where a flap is not level with the table, up-end the table and check that the flap supports are firmly screwed in place. They should just be touching the flap. if they are not, shape small slivers of wood and glue them either under the flap or on top of the stays, so there is no gap between stay and flap.
If the table has metal stays, an alternative cure is to loosen off the screws holding the stays, then slide in a slim wedge under the bottom of the stay support before tightening the screws.
