Antique four post bed

[Nippychippy]

Hi everyone I have a customer that has an antique four post bed and it's been dismantled for about six months due to them moving to a new house. The customer has noticed it has started to split and crack and dry out is there any thing I can do to fix the cracks and how would I nourish the wood. Hopefully some one has some info

Cheers robert

 

[Lbob131]

It might be possible to pry that  crack slightly further apart,  fill  it with glue  and then  clamp  together.

 

[roblg3]

I'm not an expert on this product, there is an oil called rejuvinating oil.  I doesn't color much if any.  It's supposed to be for this situation. 

 

[rst]

Use a syringe to inject glue, use air gun to force the glue in all the way and then clamp.    Leave it clamped for a couple days.  I would not pry the joint further open as you are causing more damage.

 

[mouppe]

First, move it to a more humid area. That should stop it cracking.
Second, to treat the crack I'd oil the wood and then fill it with some wood filler. If you try to glue and clamp it "against its will," it may force a crack to appear elsewhere.

 

[richy3333]

First, move it to a more humid area. That should stop it cracking.
Second, to treat the crack I'd oil the wood and then fill it with some wood filler. If you try to glue and clamp it "against its will," it may force a crack to appear elsewhere.

I don't think it gets more humid than Scotland the air around here is full of snow today.

 

[Nippychippy]

I'm not an expert on this product, there is an oil called rejuvinating oil.  I doesn't color much if any.  It's supposed to be for this situation.

Thanks ill need to look for that product or similar

thanks

 

[Nippychippy]

It might be possible to pry that  crack slightly further apart,  fill  it with glue  and then  clamp  together.

I am not sure about prying it open but i will fill it with a lot of glue and clamp it for a few days

thanks for the help

 

[Nippychippy]

First, move it to a more humid area. That should stop it cracking.
Second, to treat the crack I'd oil the wood and then fill it with some wood filler. If you try to glue and clamp it "against its will," it may force a crack to appear elsewhere.

I don't think it gets more humid than Scotland the air around here is full of snow today.

That is so thru the weather has been mad today hail and snow. So i don't think the humidity is the problem

thanks for the help

 

[downtheroad]

First, move it to a more humid area. That should stop it cracking.
Second, to treat the crack I'd oil the wood and then fill it with some wood filler. If you try to glue and clamp it "against its will," it may force a crack to appear elsewhere.

In cross section, a log will shrink/move more towards the outside than the center. Richard is correct. Trying to clamp this closed will probably not be possible and may introduce more cracks elsewhere. If the bedroom where it was in is different enough in humidity than where it was moved to for storage, cracks/warping can occur. Moving it to a more humid environment may help a little, but you will probably still need to fill the cracks with a filler. In our shop, we use 2-part epoxies, both liquid and/or putty varieties made for wood repairs. We tint them if necessary with a little bit of Mixol tints or powdered pigments to get them closer to matching but will still do touchup to better camouflage the repair.

 

[mouppe]

First, move it to a more humid area. That should stop it cracking.
Second, to treat the crack I'd oil the wood and then fill it with some wood filler. If you try to glue and clamp it "against its will," it may force a crack to appear elsewhere.

I don't think it gets more humid than Scotland the air around here is full of snow today.

That is so thru the weather has been mad today hail and snow. So i don't think the humidity is the problem

thanks for the help

Good to know. I'm off to Scotland next week. First time in 15 years. Really looking forward to it.

 

[tiralie]

The customer has noticed it has started to split and crack and dry out is there any thing I can do to fix the cracks and how would I nourish the wood.

Robert:
It looks like the bottom of those posts the part that's cracking is a different wood than the top...or is that just the photo?
Tim

I don't think it gets more humid than Scotland the air around here is full of snow today.

That is so thru the weather has been mad today hail and snow. So i don't think the humidity is the problem

Cold air is less humid or holds less moisture than warm air

hence the hail and snow, so the relative humidity is lower than usual. It's probably relatively dry...for Scotland when it's snowing and hailing.
Tim

 

[sancho57]

I'd fill the cracks with a 2 part wood filler that you tint to match the stain of the bed.