East Lake Sofa-Bed Upholstery #2B: Repair

by DKP

This is the third post in a series on this project. This post continues from the previous post: East Lake Sofa-Bed Upholstery #2A: Repair. To begin at the beginning return to Eastlake Sofa-Bed Upholstery Conservation #1: Excavation.

The front arm panels were repaired, beginning with disassembly. Note the broken structural back panel.

New structural back panels for both front arm panels were created. The location of the new hole in the new pack support panel to the original front arm panel was marked, drilled, and new dowels were secured using warm hide glue.

Warm hide glue was applied to each side to secure the back structural panel to the front; each arm panel was clamped to cure.

After curing, screw holes are readied, and new brass screws secure the arm panel pieces together. Both arm and leg panels are repaired, and the reassembly continues.

The seat frame, previous created (East Lake Sofa-Bed Upholstery #2A: Repair), was finally assembled. As it was assembled, with new corner blocks, it was screwed, glued with warm hide glue, and leveled flat.

The arm panel bases were blocked to the new frame for strength. New mortice and tenons were secured using hide glue onto the seat frame.

The original armrests were reassembled onto the newly reinforced arm front panel and newly reinforced leg. Warm hide glue was used on the mortice and tenon joints.

Leg and arms were glued and screwed, and the entire arm-seat is elaborately clamped to cure square, not torqued.

The back was reassembled in the same basic manner, conserved holes, mortice and tenons cleaned and made anew as necessary, and the reassembled using warm hide glue. After reassembly it was attached to the seat frame with the hinges.

The bottom of the armrest was assembled next. The bottom bed frame/armrest was reset properly with Mitchell’s expertise and calculations. Originally it was set at an angle (simply sloppy, not intentional) which caused the piece to wear.

The hinge which holds the arm-seat must be placed so that the front apron can bend and move as the sofa-bed is deployed and returned to a sofa seat.

Hinge holes were conserved as shown in the leg reparation.

New hinge holes were marked. Before hinges were applied, rust was removed from the hinges.

The hinges were applied.

The arm-seat was finally set to the main frame of the sofa-bed with the hinges repositioned to a better outcome for the life of the sofa-bed.

Bottom bed frame/armrest tack strips were installed. Here they were shaped.

New tack strips were replaced in the inside back, glued and screwed:

The sofa back was ready for upholstery buildup!

The mattress was not engineered properly to allow for the mattress to move onto the frame. Mitchell added new tack strips to support the mattress properly, assuming that the sofa-bed will occasionally be used as a sleepover for grandchildren!

We found another crack in the frame and the leg was gently tamped out to repair it. The old hide glue was thoroughly cleaned from the tenons and the mortice, and the crack was repaired using warm hide glue. Reassembly was done, and the leg was clamped to cure.

Repairing the crack using hide glue. Note the double dowel which was original to the frame.

Clamped to cure. Note the poor finish on the left-facing side of the sofa bed, which will be shown in reparation in the next installment.

Kate now took control of the sofa-bed frame in the first part of the reparation of the finish in the next post: “East Lake Sofa-Bed Upholstery #3: Finish Reparation.”