Found a broken chair at Goodwill - fixed it with a metal bracket from the hardware store

I picked up this old oak rocking chair at a thrift shop last weekend for $15. The armrest was cracked clean through, but the price was too good to pass up. A guy at the Habitat ReStore told me to try a mending plate instead of wood glue - says glue alone never holds on a broken spindle if there's weight on it. I grabbed a 4-inch steel bracket from Ace for $2.50 and screwed it into the underside where you can't even see it. Chair is solid now and I'm thinking about doing this on purpose for other wobbly pieces. Anyone else use metal brackets to fix up old furniture finds?

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brooke_walker236d ago

Wait, wait - "guy at the Habitat ReStore told me"?? That's wild, you actually took advice from some random dude at a ReStore and it worked? I'm shook. I've been glueing broken chair legs for years thinking that was the only way, and they always end up wobbly again after a few months. Never once crossed my mind to just throw a metal bracket on there. That's actually genius. $2.50 versus buying a whole new chair or paying someone to fix it? I feel kinda dumb for not thinking of this myself. You might have just changed how I look at thrift store finds forever.