Declared Defeat

[Birdhunter]

I have an only partially earned local reputation as a "fixer" of furniture. I friend asked me to repair an antique chair. She handed me the remains if the chair and I took the pieces to my shop. The back of the chair was broken off halfway from the seat to the arched top. One side had a pretty clean break about 90 degrees across the grain. The other side had a splintered break. That side had 4 splintered pieces, It was obvious the chair had been repaired at those two locations as there was a lot of glue residue and each side had two dowels. I watched a number of excellent videos from a guy who was a professional chair repair expert. He explained how dowels were poor techniques for repair in the thin section of a chair back. From what I was seeing in this chair, he was correct. The dowels didn't leave enough wood for any strength.

After mulling over this problem, I decided any attempt to fix the chair so (1) it would be strong enough to be safe and (2) it would look good was far beyond my skills. So, I told my friend she should take the chair to an professional.

Did I do the correct thing?

 

[luvmytoolz]

I think you absolutely did the right thing. By the sounds of it, structurally it would just be a ticking bomb once repaired again, and that could hurt your reputation.

I've been in this same position more times than I can count, and very annoyingly most of the time it was an item that would normally be thrown away due to the extreme wear or damage, except the person "conveniently" knew someone who did woodworking so they were hoping for a miracle.

Took me quite some years to learn, but sometimes the only appropriate response is "sorry, no".

 

[onocoffee]

Nothing wrong with this. It's good to know when you can stretch and what is beyond your means. You made the right decision.

 

[Sparktrician]

Excellent decision!

 

[mac sparrow]

Though not the kindest thing, my default answer is no. Almost everything I touch takes 10 times longer; I don't have it in me to do a half ass job. Recently I've been questioning whether it's all worth it given the time sacrifice.

I commend your efforts for previously helping people. We need people like you around. I thank you.

 

[ChuckS]

Without pictures of the broken chair, it is hard to tell if it is salvageble. But if I was presented the situation (assuming the chair was worth repairing because of some reason) and I wasn't sure, I'd consult Tom Johnson (of Antique Furniture Restoration in Maine) first before giving up. His unique technique of routing a channel and gluing a block to connect broken pieces has been seen in some of his chair fixes.

 

[Packard]

My friend’s father was the head of the FDA just prior to World War II. When I knew him, he was quite old, but sharp as a tack.

He said, “Almost 100% of medical malpractice occurs when very good doctors attempt something that was slightly beyond their capabilities.”, which supports your decision to suggest a professional.

 

[ChuckS]

That quote is either a misquote or pure oversimplification for our current setting. I can find no research studies on medical malpractice that support that statement. Individual overconfidence certainly can be a factor, but it can't be the majority reason for medical malpractice unless we are saying very good doctors are all risky doctors.

 

[Packard]

That quote is either a misquote or pure oversimplification for our current setting. I can find no research studies on medical malpractice that support that statement. Individual overconfidence certainly can be a factor, but it can't be the majority reason for medical malpractice unless we are saying very good doctors are all risky doctors.

I think he was basing this on his personal experiences. In my experience doctors seem very confident in their abilities, perhaps based on all the accolades they got over the years they were studying for their medical degree.

A variation on that was my complaint about the boss’s son that had entered the business directly from college. I said, “He knows what he is doing before he has learned what he should be doing.”. Overconfidence. A harmless character flaw in many professions; deadly in a few.

 

[peter halle]

Good decision! Not every chair at a bar fight can be saved

Peter

 

[Vtshopdog]

Good decision.
My take is you respectfully declined to participate in what is often called "Turd Polishing"